Mentality
by Flotus x
Summary: [First Fanfic] During the course of his adolescence, a series of events take place that ultimately change Finn's life. Now 19, he finds himself falling apart from the trauma of the events. A psychiatrist appears before him, promising closure and a way for him to free himself from his own regret, but is therapy truly enough to help the broken hero? Please read and review! Thank you!
1. Anxiety

He didn't know how long he tried to sleep but his best guess was a couple of hours, give or take. He tried looking at his clock to check the time but could only see the darkness which covered it. As he was looking through the darkness he saw a figure standing several feet from him.

"Finn.." The figure spoke

"What do you want?" Finn asked harshly

"I'm just checking on you.." The voice said

"I don't need to be checked up on." he said

"Considering your condition now, I'd say you do."

"How did you even get in my house?! Why are you bothering me?" he questioned

"That's the thing. We're not in your house."

He looked around only to see the scenery of his room dissolve into a blank white room with a two beds, each on the opposite sides of the room. He saw that someone else was asleep on one of the beds but paid it no mind as he was adjusting to the sudden shift in surroundings. There was a door at the far end of the room and it was open with the figure standing in the doorway.

"How did I-?" Finn stammered

"Get here? You've been here." the figure answered

"How long?" the hero asked

"Six days."

"What?!" Finn exclaimed

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Where am I?" the hero asked

"You're in The Candy Kingdom's Psychiatric Ward." the figure told him

"What?! When did this..?"

"They say you might be getting worse." the figure stated coldly

"What do mean worse? I'm not.."

"Look at yourself, you barely even noticed that you were here." the figure said as he walked out, locking the door from the outside as it closed behind him.

Finn looked around the room, taking in all the whiteness of it. He stopped at a security camera in the top right corner of the room. It didn't take him much to know that somebody was monitoring him but a much more important question came up. Why? He heard a familiar voice chime in from the ceiling where a small intercom resided. It was Princess Bubblegum.

"Hey Finn, how are you holding up?" She asked him

"Whoa! What's happening around here, Prubs? How did I get here?" He asked her

"Don't you remember?! You volunteered to be here in order to find out what was happening to you."

"I did? Damn, I must have really been out of it to do that." he muttered to himself

"Finn! Language!"

"Oh Glob! Sorry! Sorry!" he exclaimed

"It's alright Finn. Just don't make it a habit." she said

"_Too late_." he thought to himself while mentally laughing

"So how much longer will I be here, Peebles?" Finn questioned

"We still have one more day to go. Doctor Princess is here assisting me in the final evaluation if that helps." she answered

"What about Marceline? How is she holding up?"

"She's still mad at you Finn." she said softly

"Please PB, tell her I'm sorry."

"She knows that Finn. She's right here."

"Can I talk to her?" he asked

"I'll see if she wants to, okay?"

Finn sat in silence and looked at the person who was sleeping on the other bed. Finn was feeling tired even though he had just woken up. The figure then slowly rose up from the bed and threw the sheets off its body as it got off the bed. Finn felt a bit of relief once he saw who the person was. It was Tyler

"Tyler?!" Finn exclaimed

"Sup."

"You're in here too?"

"Yeah man, I couldn't leave you here all by yourself. Besides they're evaluating me as well." Tyler told him as he began to stretch his muscles in all kinds of directions

The intercom turned back on suddenly, breaking the conversation between the two.

"Finn?" a female voice called

He knew her voice from anywhere.

"Marceline?"

"Hey there hero." she said sweetly

Finn smiled.

"Just hang in there, okay? Everything gonna be alright."

"Yeah, I hope so. I feel really bad for leaving you all alone." he said softly

"It's okay. I can handle myself, and besides, Bonnie's been here helping me out a lot with this." she said to him

Finn was glad that she was doing somewhat better than he had expected. Then he heard someone speak to him.

"_**She's gonna move on like before.**_ _**She's lived for over 1000 years and she can only grieve for so long when you're gone. She's been through this many times before. Why do you think she was alone for so long?**_" The voice whispered

_"Stop it. I don't wanna hear that shit right now. Not now. Not ever. We'll deal with that biz later."_

"_**When will that be? When you're an old man that's ready to die?! Or will you be dead already? I wonder how long she'll miss you?**_" The voice asked him

A sense of fear started to spread throughout Finn's chest and it just felt downright ugly. He felt his lungs being drained of air and his breathing increased at an abnormal pace. His heart started racing in his chest and he felt a lump form in his throat. The voice continued to assault him even more

"_**What makes you think she loves you? Out of all the people she's met in the past 1000 years, what makes you think she'll stay with you, let alone even remember you?**_" It asked him viciously

"_Because she loves me._"

"_**That's what you think...**_"

Marceline noticed Finn sweating and breathing heavily. She got on the intercom and spoke to him

"Finn, are you okay?!" She asked worriedly

"I'm alright!" he spoke shakily as he felt himself hyperventilating

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

Marceline quickly grabbed Bubblegum and told her that Finn was acting up again. Bubblegum began to bark orders at the staff, telling them to rush to his room with his medication. Marceline at first didn't know what was happening to him but the more she watched him struggle, the more it became clear to her.

_He was having an anxiety attack._

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

Finn felt his head getting lighter as he wasn't getting enough air to his lungs. His vision started dimming as he tried to keep his balance upright. He leaned against the wall for support. He spoke out towards the intercom knowing that she was listening.

"Don't..w-worry M-Marcy..I'll..be fine." he stammered as he felt his legs give way and his vision black out.

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

She felt everything freeze around her as she gazed upon the T.V. screen. Finn was laying on the floor motionless. She flew towards his room, dodging all the candy hospital staff members on the way. Doctor Princess quickly followed suit. When Marceline arrived at the room, nurses were picking Finn's body of the floor and placing him on the bed. She brushed past the nurses and began calling his name out.

"Finn?! Finn!"

She'd never seen him this bad before. Bubblegum entered the room and ran up to Finn and placed her head on his chest.

* * *

><p>(Bubblegum)<p>

_Bump bump...bump bump..._

He was alive. She quickly began to calm Marceline down.

"Marceline! Marceline! It's alright! Finn's gonna be alright, he's just unconscious!"

Marceline looked at Finn and noticed his labored breathing. She then did the only thing that she could do and held Finn's hand, hoping for the best. Bubblegum simply looked at Marceline as she was thinking about what had happened.

"_Just how bad is he_?" she thought to herself

Bubblegum worried about how much Finn had changed. He didn't talk to anyone at all. She didn't even know how Marceline managed to talk to him and more importantly, how she ended up dating him. One of the nurses then spoke up, interrupting the princess' thoughts

"He'll be up in a couple of hours. He just needs some rest."

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

Marceline sighed in relief and kissed Finn on his forehead. Bubblegum stood motionless as she was focusing on the human. Doctor Princess came up to them and began to speak.

"I think we may need to keep him in here because his condition seems to be worsening. It's hard to tell what exactly is happening to him mentally so it might be best for us to keep him here for further evaluation."

Marceline felt her heart drop at what she realized. They were going to keep him for Glob knows how long and they didn't even know why.

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

Everything around him was black as he looked around. The air around him was cool. The empty void surrounding him offering no sense of direction or source of light. He felt his feet planted on firm ground but there was nothing below him except darkness. He began to wander around aimlessly.

"_Where am I? What is this place?_"he thought to himself

The void began to faintly whisper towards Finn as the temperature around him seemed to drop, making it even colder than it already was. Then a single voice emerged. It was distorted, which made it sound unnaturally deep. The voice itself sounded awfully familiar to him but he couldn't figure out why.

"Hello there, Finn. Please take a seat." it said

"Wait, how am I suppo-?''

He was cut off as a single grey chair appeared in front of him.

"How'd you do that?" he asked

"That doesn't matter."

"Is there anything I should call you? I don't even know you're name and that kinda bothers me." Finn asked as he sat down on the chair.

"Just call me Sam." he said

A table assembled itself in front of him. Sam emerged from the darkness and sat down on another chair in front of him. He was covered by a black cloak and a white face mask with two holes in it for the eyes.

"What happened?" Finn asked

"You passed out."

"Oh."

"Anyways, let's start." the cloaked figure spoke

"Start what?" he asked

"The session. So tell me about yourself, Finn." Sam asked as he shifted around in his seat. The darkness around them morphed itself into a grey room with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Uhhh..I'm Finn the human and that's all that matters pretty much." he said

"Okay, do you have any family that you keep in touch with?" Sam asked

"I don't have much family left and barely any real friends." Finn answered

"Well, what happened to your family?" Sam questioned

"I never met my real parents or siblings or anyone actually related to me."

"And your adoptive family?" Sam asked curiously

"I don't wanna talk about it..." Finn said

"Well you gotta talk about it to someone. You can't just bottle that up. You need to vent it out."

Finn sighed deeply and looked straight into the figure's eyes. He couldn't see his eyes very well but he caught a glimpse of their color. Blue.

"Well, where do I start?"

"How about we start from the beginning?"

"Okay."


	2. Session

**Author's Note:  
>I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read my first fanfiction. The first chapter was a bit short, but that was because it was a sample. I also noticed that there were some errors in there as well, but I was in a rush and I apologize. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this story. <strong>

**Now here's the next chapter.**

* * *

><p>"Well, my adoptive parents took me in after I was abandoned. I was so happy growing up. I had an actual family that loved me. I didn't care that they were a family of dogs. They loved me and I loved them, that was all that mattered. They raised me and taught me everything I know."<p>

A tear slowly fell down his face as he looked into Sam's eyes.

"They taught me right from wrong. Bad from good. They taught me what it meant to be a good person." Finn sighed deeply "I miss them so much..."

Sam took notice of his sadness and switched to a different topic

"What about your brothers? What became of them?" Sam asked curiously

Finn sat in silence. Sure he could easily tell him what happened to Jermaine, but Jake? How could even begin? So he decided to come out with the easiest part of his family. Jermaine. He finally broke his silence

"Well my brother Jermaine became a painter and moved out of my parent's house." He began chuckling "Who would've known? Big bad Jermaine likes to paint. Soon after he left, I moved out too, but that was years ago. I don't really know what happened to him after that, but I heard he's doing pretty good now."

Finn looked down at the table.

"What happened to your other brothers?" Sam asked curiously

"I only had two brothers..."

"What happened to your other brother? What was his name?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Finn said harshly

"Why not?"

"I just don't." Finn snapped back and stood up from his chair.

"At least tell me why, Finn?"

"Because I don't!"

"That's not a real reason! Why don't you want to talk about your brother!"

"Why am I even talking to you?!"

"Because you ended up here!"

"I got here cause I passed out!"

"I meant at the ward!"

"You're guess is as good as mine!"

"Don't lie! You know exactly why you ended up there!" Sam shouted

"Whatever man! I don't care." Finn mumbled

"Well you should! Based off of what Bubblegum told me, they're gonna keep you there because you're getting even worse! Your anxiety episodes are getting even more severe as well as your nightmares and hallucinations. You're not getting any better! You wanna know why?! Because you're not trying to! You need to try!"

Finn stayed silent. He knew Sam was right. If he didn't get better, they would just end up keeping him there at the ward. He didn't want that and he certainly knew Marceline didn't either.

"_I'll do it for her_." He thought to himself

"Okay, but how do you know Bubblegum?" Finn asked as he sat back down on his chair

"We go way back. I've worked with her on several expirementsin the past. I even helped her develop the Candy Kingdom." Sam said

"How old are you? You know what never mind."

"I'm actually 1059 years old."

"Dang you are old."

"I know."

"So you were alive during The Great Mushroom War?!"

"Yes, but we're getting off topic."

"What was it like?!"

"That is a story for another time. I will tell you but we need to make sure you get better first."

Finn groaned.

"Fine, but I have a question."

"What is it?"

"How are you talking to me right now? How do I know that you're real?"

"We're having a interconnected dream. I don't know why though. I wasn't supposed to talk to you until tomorrow."

"That makes sense I guess. Me and Jermaine had an interconnected dream once.." Finn said

"Is there anything else you wanna ask before we continue?" Sam questioned

"No."

"Okay." Sam said as he began to pop his knuckles. "So what happened to your other brother?"

Finn took a deep breath as he began to remember what had happened to Jake. As much as he hated talking about Jake now, he knew he had to so he could progress in the session and get it over with. He cleared his throat and began to speak

"My other brother was Jake. He moved out of my parent's house with me when Jermaine had left."

"How old were you back then?" Sam questioned

"I was eleven."

"Oh okay. Please continue." He said politely

"Well after a couple of years things got complicated.."

"What do you mean?"

"Things started to fall apart. We argued over stupid things back then." the human laughed somewhat darkly "Things I had no control over."

"Things like what?"

"Like growing up. I started feeling different about a lot of things. I wish I could've controlled my stupid feelings!"

"Why would you want to control your emotions?"

"So I could've kept on just adventuring like I did in the good old days." Finn spoke softly

"You can't control how you feel. Nobody can. But what we do _because _of those feelings are the things that we _can_ control. Those decisions make us who we are as a person."

"But I've hurt them all so much."

"I don't think you're a bad person for what you did."

"You don't know what I did."

"Actually I do."

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

She was pacing back and forth in the room as she watched Doctor Princess and Princess Bubblegum talk about the arrangements for the unconscious hero.

"Well he can stay here in the ward, but we will have to keep a close eye on him." Bubblegum said softly

Doctor Princess was listening intently to the princess but was more concerned for the queen. As soon as PB stopped talking the doctor walked up to Marceline and began to talk to her

"Look, I'm really sorry that we have to keep him here. But at the rate he's going, he'll end up being a danger to you and everybody else around him. I'll try to figure this out as soon as I can, but for now he's going to have stay here."

Tears started forming in her eyes. Bubblegum took notice of this and went up to her and hugged her tightly.

"Marcy, I promise you that we'll make sure he gets better. We're going to do everything we can. I _royal promise_."

Marceline began to cry. She didn't want to believe that her own best friend and lover was going insane. She didn't want to lose him. She didn't want to lose anybody.

_Not again._

She was sobbing by now. She didn't possibly know what to do in a situation like this. Sure she had been in a position like this before, but she was only a child then.

_The person she cared about was losing himself within the depths of his own mind._

Even now she felt the old overwhelming feeling of uselessness consume her once again. Finn had always been there for her, and now it seemed liked in just a matter of time, she was going to lose him. He was getting more and more worse and she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it.

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

"You're not a bad person for what you did." Sam said calmly

"What makes you think that?! Huh?! What makes you think that I'm still the good guy?!" Finn yelled

"You came back! You still protect these people! You still care for them!"

Finn groaned. He felt a bad headache coming along and he saw everything around him start shifting and break apart. The room began breaking apart and the table disassembled itself. The floor beneath him started vanishing.

"Looks like you're about to wake up."

"What?!"

"We will pick up where we left off in the next session. It was nice meeting you, Finn. Until next time." Sam said as he waved to him

Then he woke up.

As soon as he opened his eyes he was greeted by the bright white lights above him. He found himself laying on his bed. His body felt stiff as he began to stretch his arms.

_"Oh man. She's probably worried sick about me." _He thought to himself

He looked towards the camera and started waving his arms.

"Hey! Guys! I'm alright! There's nothing to worry about!"

He waited for a response. Nothing.

_"That's weird." _he thought

He looked over to the other bed in the room. It was empty.

_"Where's Tyler?" _

Finn got up off his bed and looked out the only window in the room. It was dark outside. He could see the candy streets down below and the citizens that dwelled there. It seemed that their curfew was approaching. Everyone was rushing into their houses as the sky above them was getting darker. Something seemed off though. Sure the candy people were running into their houses, but they seemed to be running from something. Or someone.

**KA-BOOM!**

A house blew into pieces. A couple of candy people ran out of the house. On fire. They began to scream as they melted. Finn didn't want to watch, but couldn't do anything else since he was locked inside. A blood curdling roar filled the air.

"Oh no. Not now. Please not now." Finn pleaded

It swooped down, picking off candy people as it flew through the street. Finn caught a quick glance of it, but that was all he needed in order for him to try getting out of the room. He began punching the candy door with all his strength. Each punch gradually increasing in force. One dent. Two dents. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. The door didn't plan on going down. He kept on trying but to no success. This door was reinforced for specific reasons, but he knew the main reason why. They thought he was going to try breaking out eventually. Why would they think that? Sure he was trying now, but there was an actual reason. People were dying outside and he needed to get out there and help them.

_"You still protect these people! You still care for them!"_

Sam was right. He still cared.

Finn ran back up to the window. He saw the creature flying right above him, spewing flames in all directions. He heard someone yelling to all the people.

"Everyone evacuate the Candy Kingdom_** immediately**_!"

It was Princess Bubblegum.

_"What the hell happened when I was out?" _he thought to himself

He heard the door in the room open. He turned around to see a certain vampire flying at him. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and embraced her tightly.

"I missed you so much." Marceline spoke softly into his ear

"I missed you too." he said gently

He looked up to see Doctor Princess looking at them.

"Uh, hey Doc." he said nervously

Doctor Princess ran towards the window and looked outside.

"This little reunion is nice and all, but we have a bigger problem here." And as if on cue another roar filled the air once more.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm up for any ideas that you guys may have. If you guys have anything to say or ask, guest or not, please do. The chapters <strong>_**may**_** be a little slow at first but things will pick up, so I apologize in advance. **


	3. The Dragon

**Author's Note:**

**I'd like to thank the people who reviewed my story and are following and/or favoring this story! You guys are awesome! This means a lot to me because it actually let's me know that you are actually reading!**

**Random Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the plot and the OC's in the story. Adventure Time belongs to Pendleton Ward.**

**Without further ado, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

><p>"Come on we gotta get out of here!" Doctor Princess shouted as she started running out the room and down the hall.<p>

Marceline quickly picked up Finn and Doctor Princess and began flying through the hall. As they were passing through the hallway, Finn looked out the window.

_"What..the...fuck." _he thought to himself

The Candy Kingdom was burning down right before his eyes. The flames were spreading throughout the streets quite rapidly, melting anything in its path. The creature turned and faced the psychiatric ward. It was looking right at them.

"Look out!" Doctor Princess yelled

It spewed flames directly towards them. Marceline narrowly avoided the flames and flew out one of the broken walls.

"What the hell happened when I was out?!" Finn shouted

"It just came out of nowhere! This is bad! This is really bad!" Doctor Princess said worriedly

Marceline flew over to the Candy Kingdom entrance. She landed on the ground, dropping off Finn and Doctor Princess. Doctor Princess ran off towards a group of candy people that were injured and started helping them.

"Do you have a sword or something I can use?!" Finn asked

Marceline looked around only to find nothing. Finn sighed. The kingdom was in trouble and he didn't even have a weapon. Finn simply ran towards the kingdom without even saying a word.

_Old habits die hard_

"Finn!" Marceline cried out

"What?" Finn asked as he stopped in place and turned around to face Marceline

She ran up to him and kissed him deeply. They quickly embraced each other while doing so. Unfortunately, Finn had to break away from the kiss after a while. Marceline had a saddened look on her face.

"Be careful, Finn." she said

"Yeah I will."

"So how do you plan on fighting that thing without a weapon?" she asked

"Honestly, I never thought that far ahead."

"Well you need something to fight it with."

"Where could I find a weapon?"

He heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around and found Princess Bubblegum running up to them. She quickly grabbed Finn and Marceline and pulled them in for a hug. She was shaking uncontrollably. Finn hugged her even tighter.

"Princess! Are you alright?!" Finn asked

She didn't answer. She simply held Finn and Marceline even closer.

"Princess, do you know where I could find a weapon by any chance? I need to deal with this." He said calmly

"In t-the a-armory...in the West wing of the k-kingdom.." Bubblegum answered shakily

"Okay. Marceline, watch her!" He spoke as he ran back into the burning kingdom.

"Be careful!" Marceline shouted back

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

Finn's footsteps faded in the distance as he ran further and further into the kingdom. Marceline then turned her attention to Princess Bubblegum. The princess looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. Marceline couldn't stand to see her like this. No matter how unsteady their friendship was.

"Did all the people get out?" Marceline asked

PB sighed.

"I tried as hard as I could to get them all out, but most of them didn't make it."

"I'm so sorry, Bonnie."

The two were quiet. Marceline released Bubblegum from her embrace and walked towards a nearby tree.

"I'm tired of this." Bubblegum sighed

"Tired of what?" Marceline asked

"Of this!" she gestured towards the burning kingdom "I'm tired of being scared for my life and the kingdom's! I'm constantly worrying about everything going wrong! I don't even know why I rule over these people anymore! I can't even save them when they're in real danger. I gave up my time and everything I loved for this kingdom and I can't even save it."

She walked up to Marceline and looked at her with tears in her eyes.

"I'm tired of making sacrifices, Marceline. I could've done so much more. I could've been something different. I've sacrificed so much and for what?! Look at this! Look at it! It's all burning down! I can't do this anymore!" Bubblegum had tears falling down her cheeks

Marceline's eyes widened. She went up to Bubblegum and slapped her.

***Smack!**

"DON'T you do this now!" the vampire yelled

Princess Bubblegum looked at her, shocked, to say the least.

"You've always put the kingdom and your citizens before yourself and now you're just giving up? What happened to the ol' Princess Bubblegum I knew, huh?! 'Cause I sure as hell don't see her now! The Bonnie I knew would think of something to help Finn with the dragon that's burning down her OWN kingdom! She wouldn't be here moping around and complaining about things! She would get up and take action! Bonnie, I know that things have been rough for you, but look at your kingdom! You built this with your own hands and now you're willing to let some creature tear it down! When you made this kingdom you made a promise to keep it safe, and now when your kingdom needs you the most, you're just going walk away?! I'll be DAMNED if I let you do that! You're going to march your ass over there and help those people!"

Bubblegum just looked at Marceline, taken back by her words.

"You're right." Bubblegum exclaimed

PB grabbed Marceline and pulled her in for a hug.

"Thank you."

Bubblegum let her go and ran across the kingdom and began helping the remaining candy citizens, leading them away from the obvious danger with Doctor Princess. Marceline took a deep breath. It took a lot to say all of that and it exhausted her, but there was still a dragon to deal with. And with that she flew into the kingdom.

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

Finn was making his way out of the castle. He was lucky, he had found one of the last REAL weapons in the armory. It was a silver short sword that looked about 2 feet long. This wasn't exactly the best weapon to fight a winged beast with, but at least it was something made out of steel and not candy. He began to survey the sky, looking for the dragon. He spotted it off in the distance. He walked towards the dragon, waving his arms around and shouting at it.

"Hey! HEY!"

The beast turned around and looked right at the human. It quickly started flying towards him

"Oh shit."

Finn raised his sword. The dragon swooped down at him and tried to eat him, but he rolled out of the way at the last second. Finn began running towards the outskirts of the kingdom. As he was running he felt himself starting to float. Next thing he knew he was several hundred feet in the air.

"Whoa!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" a voice asked him

"I'm distracting it, Marceline." he replied

"By trying to get yourself killed?!"

"What do you think I should do?"

"Not get yourself killed first of all. I got a plan, ok?"

She descended down to ground and let Finn go. She kissed him on the cheek and began transforming into the gigantic bat creature. Finn was watching the dragon close the distance between them. When he looked back at Marceline, the transformation was already complete. Marceline growled and flew towards the dragon. She tackled the dragon in mid-air and slammed it into street. A loud slam echoed through the air and a wave of candy dust spreaded throughout the streets. Finn covered his eyes as the dust began hitting him. Roars of pain rang throughout the whole kingdom. Finn quickly ran towards the point of impact. The dust was clearing out and he saw Marceline on top off the dragon, pinning it down on it's stomach. The dragon was squirming around, trying to break free.

"Finn! Now!" Marceline yelled

Finn ran up to the dragon, sword ready, and shoved the sword into it's eye. He heard a sickening squish as the sword plunged into it's pupil. Blood started gushing out of the wound and was drenching Finn's clothing. The dragon yelled out in pain. Finn raised his left palm toward the dragon's face.

An intense flame blew out of his hands and straight into the dragon's missing eye. The dragon tried flying away, but Finn quickly jumped on top of the dragon's head and kept on burning it's eye. Marceline flew into the air, just barely avoiding the flames. She transformed back into her normal self and watched Finn.

The dragon flew into the air and attempted to throw Finn off it's head. Finn raised both of his palms in the air. Sparks started emitting from his right hand and then full on electricity. The electricity and flames began swirling around his hands. He slammed his hands down on the dragon's head. The dragon began to shake violently from the electricity and caught on fire. It's wings immediately stopped flapping and it began falling towards the earth. Finn let go of the beast and simply let himself fall. Everything around him was quiet except for the sound of the rushing wind against his body. He felt himself suddenly jerk upward and lost a little bit of his breath.

"Hey, Marceline." Finn said happily

"What was that?!" Marceline asked confusedly

"What was what?" he asked

"The flames coming out of your hands! Where did that come from?!"

"Oh that. I learned that when I was...you know."

"Oh."

"Please don't be sad about it. I'm back! That's all that matters, right?"

She smiled and looked directly into his eyes

"Yeah."

"How about we go down and check on PB and the rest of the kingdom."

"Sure. And after that we can go clean all this blood off of you."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

* * *

><p>(Bubblegum)<p>

_"How could I even think of that?! I'm glad she snapped me out of it. Maybe I am just getting lonely. I have nobody to talk to really. I mean sure there's Marceline, but she's with Finn."_ She mentally sighed to herself

_"If only things were different."_

A loud crash rang throughout the whole kingdom, breaking the princess' train of thought. She looked over to where the noise came from and saw a huge wave a dust coming towards her. She covered her eyes as the dust began hitting her. After a couple seconds the dust was gone and was replaced by the dragon's unmoving body. The sickening smell of burnt flesh began filling her nostrils almost instantly. She heard the sound of footsteps behind her and turned around. Marceline and Finn were walking towards her. She gasped at the sight of Finn being covered in blood.

"It's not my blood." Finn said calmly

PB sighed in relief.

"Finn, do you mind if I talk to Bonnie alone?" Marceline asked him

"Nah, of course not."

Finn then began walking away into a nearby forest. Marceline waited until he was completely out of sight.

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

"What are we gonna do with him?" Marceline asked quietly

"I don't know, Marceline. I mean he saved the kingdom and all, but that still doesn't change what's happening to him."

"I know, Bonnie. I just...I don't wanna lose him. He means so much to me."

"I know he does and that's why we have to help him. Why you have to help him. This is too much for him to do alone."

"I don't want to throw him in a room and wait until he gets better. I wanna show him the better things in life."

"But he'll become a danger to everyone."

"How do you know that he will?!"

"How do you know he won't?!"

Marceline was silent. She honestly had no idea how Finn would end up.

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

He was walking through the forest, touching a tree every once in a while. He kept on going until he stumbled upon a clearing. It looked about 30 feet wide and 20 feet long. He walked into the clearing and looked up at the stars. A gust of wind blew over gently, blowing his hair back and drying up some of the blood on him. He heard some leaves crunch and quickly turned around. He saw someone he was definitely not expecting. It was Tyler.

"Tyler?"

"Hey."

"Where were you? What happened?"

"I don't know what happened. They moved you into a different room and then all of a sudden everything was on fire. As soon as that happened I got out of the ward and started helping people escape."

"I honestly thought you two would be dead already." a voice bursted in

They turned around to see a figure standing in the forest. It slowly stepped out into the clearing, revealing a man who looked around Finn's age and height. He had dark black hair that dropped to his shoulders and was wearing a plain white shirt and some grey pants along with an eye-patch.

"YOU!" Finn yelled as he ran towards the man

The man kicked Finn in the stomach and pushed him into the ground. Tyler then ran up to the man and grabbed him by his throat.

"What are you doing here, Wolf?!" Tyler asked angrily

Finn groaned as he pulled himself off the ground.

"Let him go, Tyler." another voice spoke

Finn turned around to see another figure step out of the shadows.

It was Sam.

* * *

><p><strong>I honestly had trouble writing this chapter because I'm not that good at writing action scenes. Anyways, more conflict is sure to arise. I hope to get a hold of this weekly Sunday or Saturday update thing.<strong>

**With love,**

** Sianvar**


	4. With Friends Like These

**Author's Warning:** Awkward Sexual Content is included in this chapter!

* * *

><p>"Why should I?" Tyler asked furiously<p>

"Let him go." Sam repeated

Tyler let go of Wolf.

"What happened to the kingdom, Finn?" Sam asked

"A dragon attacked." Finn spoke as he kept on watching Wolf

"That's terrible."

"I know." he replied

"So I see you've met Wolf and Tyler."

"How do you know them?" Finn asked

"They're my patients." Sam answered

"What?!"

The blood on Finn was beginning to dry up more quickly.

"Is everyone at the kingdom okay?" Sam asked

"I don't know."

Sam motioned for Tyler to come over to where they were. Tyler walked over to Finn and him somewhat slowly.

"How have you been, Tyler?"

"Uh..pretty good I guess."

"That's good." Sam called

"You know, I haven't forgotten about what you've done." Wolf spoke towards Finn as he walked up to him

Wolf got closer to Finn and stared him down with a simple smirk

"You make it seem like you're the victim here." Finn said

* * *

><p>(Tyler)<p>

Sam pulled Tyler back as he walked away

"What are you doing?" Tyler whispered to him

"Giving them space."

Tyler looked unsure of what was about to happen

"Don't worry. I've taken precautions." Sam finished

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

"You know, I told you to stay away from her. But of course, you didn't. You couldn't just leave it alone."

"She chose me." Finn replied

"Whatever. She only chose you because she pitied you. She felt guilty for causing you to leave." Wolf spoke angrily

Finn was getting more and more angrier by the minute. He raised his hand and spawned a flame inside it. All while not breaking eye contact with Wolf.

"And what exactly do you plan on doing with that?" Wolf asked

Finn then turned the fire into a ball and threw it directly at Wolf.

***BOOM!**

The explosion radius of the blast caused the surrounding grass to immediately catch fire. Finn stared at the spot where the fireball landed. He kept another fireball in the palm of his hand, ready for another attack.

"That was fun." Wolf's voice came from behind his ear

He quickly turned around and hurled another ball of fire.

***BOOM!**

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

The two were standing a distance away from each other. Some of the Candy Kingdom was still burning behind them.

"Please don't take him away from me, Bonnie." Marceline pleaded

"But It's for his own good."

"Stop saying that!" Marceline half-shouted

"It's to help him get better."

"I know." Marceline spoke softly and hung her head down low

"I'm sorry, Marceline."

"It's okay." she replied as small tears began forming in her eyes

Bubblegum hated seeing her like this. Even if it was for another guy.

"Ok, look. The kingdom is going to take sometime to rebuild. Finn can stay with you 'till then, ok."

Marceline ran over to her and hugged her tightly

"Thanks, Bonnie. Thank you so much."

Bubblegum was quite surprised by this and began blushing feverishly.

"Uh..your welcome."

"I'll let Finn know! I'll be right back!" Marceline said excitedly as she flew into the forest

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

"Terry and Nick are dead." Sam said

"Dead?! What do you mean dead?!" Finn asked

"I killed them." Wolf spoke up

"You son of A BITCH!" Finn yelled as he ran towards Wolf

* * *

><p>(3rd Person)<p>

Finn quickly threw a left fist and let it connect with Wolf's chin. Wolf stumbled back and raised his right fist and hit Finn right in his nose. Blood began flowing out of Finn's nose. Finn then elbowed Wolf on the side of his face. Finn then grabbed him by his shoulders and threw him on the floor. Wolf began picking himself off the ground, but found Finn's boot kicking him in the ribs. Wolf rolled over and began coughing. Finn walked over to him, got on top of him and started throwing more punches to his face. Wolf shoved Finn off of him and quickly got back up. Wolf ran to Finn, jumped up in the air and drop kicked him straight in the chest. Finn felt all of his breath escape him as soon as he felt those legs connect with his chest. Finn flew backwards and fell straight to the ground. He slid across the grass and began wheezing. Wolf walked up to him and pulled him off the ground. Finn quickly threw his knee into his stomach. Wolf fell to his knees and gripped his stomach. Finn raised his left fist, conjuring flames around it and hit Wolf directly in his face.

Wolf skidded about 20 feet on the ground. Finn stood there and tried regaining his breath. Wolf's body began to move up off of the ground. Finn then stumbled his way towards him.

* * *

><p>(Wolf)<p>

Wolf raised his hand to the right side of his face. He felt stinging as soon as his hand made contact with his face. His eye-patch, or what was left of it, fell to the grass. The smell of burnt flesh drowned his nostrils. He heard the shuffling of footsteps behind him. He barely managed to pull himself up to his feet and turned around only to find Finn's fist bury itself in his face. The punch sent him flying once again.

"Damn this hurts." he said to himself as he crashed into the dirt

"Enough, Finn." Sam's voice busted in

"No." Finn spoke as he kept walking towards Wolf

"Finn?! Finn, where are you?!" Marceline's voice rang throughout the forest.

Finn's eyes immediately widened as he bolted towards the sound of her voice.

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

"Where are you?!" Finn yelled

"I'm over here!" Marceline yelled back

"Hold on! I got an idea!" Finn shouted

Finn raised his hand in the shape of a gun and fired a small fireball.

"I see it!"

Finn stood there waiting.

"What just happened?"he thought to himself

As he was pondering to himself, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind him.

"Hi there." Marceline spoke seductively

"Hey." Finn said back to her

"So Bonnie said you could stay with me until the kingdom is rebuilt."

"Sounds fun." Finn spoke as he turned around to face her

"What happened to your face?!" Marceline questioned

"Umm.."

"What happened?"

"I got attacked.."

"WHAT?! BY WHO?!" Marceline asked crazily

"Don't worry about it. I dealt with it."

"But.."

"You think this is bad?" Finn gestured to his bloody nose. "You should've seen the bear that fought me. I'm gonna have another hat!" Finn lied

Marceline couldn't help but giggle a little.

"But I like you without your hat. I get to see your hair."

"Well, I guess I could live without a hat." Finn said shyly

"Yay!" Marceline exclaimed as she hugged him tightly

Finn began laughing at her childishness. A side of her that he enjoyed so much.

"Well we should tell Bonnie bye." Marceline said

"Yeah."

Marceline flew into the air and began flying back to the Candy Kingdom. Finn simply let his mind wander once more.

"_S__crew Wolf._" he thought to himself

"**Tough guy are we now?**" A voice asked him

"_Oh Shut up._"

"**Oooh, so scary.**"

"_Whatever._"

Finn simply tuned out the voice and next thing he knew he was on the ground. He saw Princess Bubblegum and walked up to her and gave her a hug.

"Take care, Finn." she spoke

"Don't worry, Peebles." Finn spoke as he let her go. "Marcy is in good hands." he whispered to her and winked

She immediately became flustered and tried speaking but could only muster

"How did you..?"

"I've known for a while." Finn cut her off

She felt extremely embarrassed now. Finn then waved goodbye to her.

"Later, Bonnie." Marceline spoke as she picked him up and flew into the air.

As they were in the air, Finn spoke up.

"Do you mind if we go back to my house so I can gather a few things?"

"Sure, Finn." Marceline replied as she started flying towards his house.

* * *

><p>[One week prior to the Candy Kingdom incident]<p>

(Terry)

His red hair was blowing through the wind as he gently strolled throughout the forest. The air around him was quiet as he strolled through.

"Hey, Terry." a voice spoke from behind him

He turned around.

"Oh hey, W-" Terry stopped mid-sentence as he saw a gun being pointed at him

"What are you doing, Wolf?!" Terry asked panickedly

"You know what I'm doing." Wolf said as he cocked his gun

"Knock this shit off, dude!"

"Only of us is gonna make it at the end of the day."

"What the hell are you talking about?! You better not! You better fucking not! Don't do this shit, man!"

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not." Wolf spoke coldly as he quickly raised the gun to Terry's head and pulled the trigger.

***Bang!**

The gunshot echoed throughout the forest.

"Son of a bitch got blood on me." Wolf mumbled to himself

He walked up to Terry's unmoving body and aimed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger again

***Bang!**

He stood there in silence and stared at Terry's body. Blood was pooling out of the two gunshot wounds in his head and on to the grass.

"Terry, what the hell was that?!" a voice bursted in as well as the shuffling of footsteps

Wolf quickly turned around and emptied several rounds on the person who came out of the forest

***Bang!**

***Bang!**

***Bang!**

The person fell to the floor with a slump. Wolf walked up to the body to see who it was.

"I didn't mean to do that, Nick." Wolf spoke as he chuckled to himself

"F-fuck you." Nick said as he began coughing

"I always knew it would be like this." Wolf spoke as he shot Nick again

***Bang!**

* * *

><p>[Now at Marceline's house]<p>

(One hour after departing the Candy Kingdom)

Finn managed to stumble into Marceline's home with her holding him up. He was quite exhausted from the recent turn of events. He couldn't even carry his back pack right as he came into the house.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, Marcy." Finn said as he went up her ladder.

"Ok, Finny." she spoke back somewhat cheerily

He walked into the bathroom and closed the door. He then dropped his back pack on the floor and looked at himself in the mirror. His golden hair was shoulder-length and dried up blood was splattered on his face along with some dirt. His eyes were a bit red. Probably from the sleep that he so needed. He looked into his own eyes and noticed something that he didn't before. His left iris was green.

"What the?" he muttered

He examined his eye closely and blinked. It was still green. He backed away from the mirror and began taking off his clothes. His black jeans fell to the floor with a slump along with his blue t-shirt. He began slipping out of his boxers and opened his back pack and pulled out some soap and shampoo. He placed them in the shower and stepped in. He turned on the water and began rinsing himself. The dried blood was getting moist and dripping off his body and on to the shower floor then swirled into the drain. He grabbed the shampoo and squeezed some on to his head and began massaging it into his hair gently. He then felt a pair of hands slide down his back. Finn inhaled sharply. A pair of breasts pushed up against his back.

"You think I forgot about our shower deal?" Marceline whispered lustily

Finn then turned around and admired Marceline's figure. Her breasts were glistening from the water and her hair was sticking to her form.

"Aren't you gonna help me wash myself?" She asked seductively

He then wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her close to him and kissed her. Their tongues swished around each other as they continued to embrace each other. Marceline pulled away from the kiss, with a trail of saliva connecting from their lips. She absolutely loved when Finn would let his instincts take over. Especially during times like this. Finn then moved down to her neck and began sucking on her bite marks. She felt her knees quiver and a wave of euphoria wash over. He began scrubbing over her figure with his hands. Relishing every second his fingers were in contact with her god-like beauty. After a couple of minutes of washing each others bodies, they stepped out and dried themselves. Marceline put on a black lingerie and walked out of the bathroom and towards her bed. Finn simply put on another pair of boxers and was about to put on some shorts, but Marceline called out to him.

"Don't put those on. Those boxers will do fine."

He blushed crazily at that remark.

"Come here, henchman."

Finn felt himself hypnotized at her beauty and began walking to her. Marceline got off the bed and wrapped her arms around Finn's neck and kissed him deeply. She pushed him on to the bed and climbed on top of him.

"We aren't even close to being done here." Marceline said to Finn

**Sorry if that made you feel awkward while reading. Please feel free to speak about anything. Whether it's telling me to hurry up with these updates, stop writing lemons or if you have any constructive criticism to offer. Because honestly, I'm new to writing. I edited it to be less explicit and awkward. Yay!**

**With love,**

**~Sianvar**


	5. Session Part 2

**Author's Note: This is a much deeper story than you think. Right now it seems as though it's just a bunch of random events that are occurring, but these things are happening in order to progress the story**

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

_He looked around himself worriedly. There were buildings that had crumbled all around him. There was also a number of destroyed cars that littered the cracked road he was walking on. They had no color on them, only rust. He looked up and only saw a dark, grey, lifeless sky. Gunshots echoed in the distance as well as the occasional scream. Each shrill scream sent shivers down his spine as he traversed onward. He heard the voices returning. They were whispering something to him, but he couldn't decipher what. He noticed that he was looking out of only one of his eyes and tried opening the other one. He then realized that his other eye was already opened. He felt for his eye and hit a small leather patch. The voices started whispered even louder to him. He looked at his clothes and noticed he was wearing a long white sleeve shirt with some black jeans and black boots. He began panicking as he looked around for a mirror so he could see what was wrong with his eye. He spotted some shattered glass on a sidewalk across the street and dashed towards it. He picked up a large shard of glass and stared at his reflection. The right side of his face was burnt. He had long black hair that reached down to his shoulders, a green left iris and an eye patch that covered his right eye._

"_**You're a lone wolf..**_"_A single voice whispered to him_

He quickly opened his eyes, panting, and found himself looking at a ceiling. He took a deep breath and relaxed.

"It was just a dream." he mumbled to himself

_Only a dream.._

Marceline's arm was wrapped around his waist as he shifted around in the bed. He felt his stomach growl and decided to get up and make himself something to eat since he wasn't going to fall back to sleep anytime soon. He gently unwrapped Marceline's arm from his waist and rose up out of the bed. He began to stretch but felt a soreness flow throughout his body and groaned in pain.

'_Aw man, this hurts._' He thought

Marceline stirred around in the bed and found that Finn wasn't beside him. She opened her still sleepy eyes and looked around for him until she saw that he was in front of her.

"Hi." He said awkwardly

"Hey." She said back while smiling, revealing her cute little dimples

"You looked worried there for a second."

"I thought you left." She replied

"Sorry 'bout that. I was just gonna get something to eat downstairs." He said

"It's okay."

"You want something to eat?"

"Uh..sure." She answered

He then made his way down the ladder and jumped down to the floor. He walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to look for something to eat. There were some cartons of bug milk, a red bowl of strawberries, two apples, a tomato and a jar of cherries.

'_I remember why I never really ate here._' he chuckled to himself mentally

He grabbed the bowl of strawberries and looked at them.

'_I should get these._' He thought

He grabbed one of the apples and took a bite out of it and made his way back up the ladder. When he got back upstairs, he found Marceline crashed out on the bed. He brought along the bowl of strawberries and placed them on her night stand. He looked around the room and found Hambo sitting on her desk across the room. He walked over to the desk, grabbed Hambo and walked back to her. He placed Hambo under the red blanket right next to her. Marceline unconsciously grabbed Hambo and pulled the little guy to her chest, snuggling with him. Finn smiled. He stood there for a couple of seconds until the moment was interrupted by a knock on the front door.

'_I wonder who that could be?_' Finn thought

He was about to make his way downstairs, but realized he was still in his boxers.

'_Whoa! I gotta change._'

'_**That you do.**_' The voice whispered to him

He walked into the bathroom and saw his green back pack chilling in the corner of the room. He picked it up, opened it and pulled out a pair of grey jeans and a white shirt. He quickly put them on and hurried downstairs. He opened the door and found nobody outside.

"Huh?" He said out loud

He looked all around the front porch and throughout the cave and nobody was to be seen. He walked outside and took another quick look around. Nobody.

"Freakin' ding-dong ditchers.." He muttered to himself

He turned around and began walking in to the house. He was about to head inside until he saw a note on the front door. He grabbed the note and read it.

"_Don't forget, our session will resume at 3:00 PM since we never really got to finish. Meet me at your house. -Sam_"

"At 3? What time is it?" Finn asked himself as he walked back into the house.

He looked at the analog clock that hung in the living room. It was a small blue clock that had drawings of Finn and his brother Jake on the hands. A couple of words were etched on to it. They read:

_Finn & Jake...Timeless_

It was 2:25 PM.

"I'm gonna be late!" He exclaimed

He climbed back upstairs and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and quickly wrote Marceline a note.

"_Hey Marcy, sorry for not being here when you wake up, something important came up. I brought you some strawberries though. I'll be back later. - Finn_"

Finn placed the pen and paper down on the desk and gave Marceline a kiss on the forehead. He quickly put on his socks and boots and left the house.

* * *

><p>(32 minutes later at the Treefort)<p>

Finn arrived at his house and opened the door. He climbed up the ladder and looked around the living room. There were a whole bunch of artifacts from the old world laying across his house. Vinyl records, posters, cassettes, clothing, a grand piano, weapons, maps and his trusty old skateboard. Sam was standing in the center of the living room, studying everything that resided in his house.

"You're quite the collector." Sam's voice called to him

"I like to gather cool things." Finn replied

The room was silent as the two stood there. Sam seemed to ignore the awkward silence and continued looking around the house.

"You play piano?" Sam asked while his eyes caught the grand piano in view

"How did you know that I was staying at Marceline's house? And how do you know where she lives?" Finn asked him

"Princess Bubblegum told me. Since I was appointed to you, and the Candy Kingdom's psychiatric ward is under repairs, we decided that we should continue with the sessions anyway and have them here instead."

"Oh."

"Shall we resume our session."

"I really don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I don't feel like talking about anything right now. I feel like chillaxing, man."

"Are you sure about that? Because I feel like we should at least talk about last night." Sam said

Finn's eyes widened when he heard this.

"Where's Wolf?! Where is he?!" Finn yelled

"Calm down, Finn. Calm down. He's not here. Wolf probably won't be around here for a while. You got him pretty good last night, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't show up for the next several days."

Finn slightly relaxed, but was still somewhat tense.

Finn walked over to his couch and dropped on to it. Sam then walked over towards Finn and stared at him.

"I guess we can finish."

"Good."

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

She opened her groggy eyes and began wiping them. She sat up in the bed and noticed Hambo was laying right next to her. She gave Hambo a little hug and set him back down on the bed. She looked around and found a bowl of strawberries along with a note. She grabbed a strawberry from the bowl and sucked the color out of it. She then picked up the note and read it.

"_Hey Marcy..dadadada...something important came up..dadada...I'll be back later._" She read to herself

"Well, since he's busy, I guess I can jam out for a while. Glob only knows how long it's been since I have." She told herself as she began to look for her bass

She floated downstairs and made her way into the living room. She looked at the drawing of Jake on the clock with a sunken expression on her face.

"_Oh, Finn._" She spoke softly

He didn't deserve any of those things that had happened to him

_But they had happened to him regardless..._

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

"Do you think you're still a bad person?" Sam asked him

"I don't know.." Finn replied

"I don't think you are. You helped the Candy Kingdom when that dragon attacked. Bad people don't do that."

"Yeah.."

"You're still a hero. Whether you accept it or not."

Finn stayed quiet, letting Sam's words sink in.

"I wish Jake was here..." Finn trailed off

"You never did tell me what happened to him."

Finn took a deep breath. He raised his hands to his face and exhaled.

"It was a couple years back; a little after Flame King had banished me from the Fire Kingdom."

* * *

><p>(Three years ago)<p>

"Why'd she do that?" Jake asked a much _younger_ Finn

"I don't know, man. She said that we shouldn't see each other until I stopped acting weird."

"So she banished you from the kingdom?! Yeesh, that's harsh."

"What's wrong with me, Jake? I can't do anything right, and now the girl that I love is over me."

"There's nothing wrong with you, bro. It's probably her. Maybe she wasn't the one for you."

"But she seemed like she was.."

"I know, man. But sometimes they aren't. Heck, for all we know, tomorrow you could find a _new_ girl that'll make you completely forget about FP!" Jake exclaimed optimistically

"But I don't wanna forget her!" Finn replied

"Well, you don't _have to_ forget her. I was just saying. It's not the end of the world."

_How funny, Jake._

Finn walked around the living room, anxiously thinking of a way to fix things between him and his ex.

"Dude, you need to calm down." Jake told him.

Finn ignored him as he kept walking around

Jake stretched his arms around Finn and pulled him towards him.

"Finn, you need to _relax_. Look, as much as I hate breaking it to you, maybe this was meant to happen."

"Jake! How could you say that, man!"

"Hear me out, Finn! Just..hear me out."

"Fine."

"I know you feel bad about what you did, but you need to let it go. She's already forgiven you for what you did, but you need to forgive yourself. I know that it hurts and that it won't be easy, but you need to move on, Finn."

Finn's eyes were beginning to water

"I don't know if I can, Jake."

"Yes, you can. You're just not letting yourself."

The tears begin falling down his face

"I still love her."

"A good relationship can't be one-sided, Finn. It has to be mutual."

"I can still save our relationship."

"It's time to move on, Finn."

"I can change this."

"Listen to yourself! You're talking about trying to save a relationship that's past it's expiration date! You can't save spoiled milk, man! You can drink it, but it won't be as good as it was meant to be. You get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, man. I do." Finn said while hanging his head low

"You wanna go on a dungeon hunt, so we can keep your mind off this biz?" Jake asked

"Not really. I just want to be alone for now." Finn said as he went to his room

"Don't think about this too much, man. There's no such thing as good festering."

Finn walked to his bed and threw himself on it. He looked out the window and stared at the night sky. The stars glistened as the moon was nowhere to be found. Finn looked at the small candle on his night stand. He grabbed a matchbox from one of the drawers, pulled out a match and lit it. He brought the little flame to the candle, lighting it up. He gazed at the candle while it burned. Then he just broke. Tears began flowing from his eyes. One mistake led to all this heart break for him. He silently sobbed to himself as the candle on his night stand kept burning.

* * *

><p><strong>1,083 views! Whoa! That's pretty sweet. I'd like to thank you guys who reviewed. Especially you nameless people. I'm currently up to 10 favorites and 13 followers on this story. Which is more than I thought that I could have with only 4 chapters. (5 now) Especially since the story <strong>_**so far **_**is such a small portion of the story. Now here is some essential things you should know about this story in order for it to make sense.**

**First of all, Finn is 19 years old at this point.**

**Second: Finn had previously left Ooo for a time. The reasons why he left are still to be explained.**

**Third: The O.C's. **

**There are 7 of them. Sam, Tyler, Wolf, Terry, Nick, Chris and Dave.  
>How Finn knows them will be revealed later.<br>Chris, Nick and Terry are dead at this point; Dave is nowhere to be found.(Which is why he hasn't been mentioned so far)**

**Fourth: Sam. **

**Sam is going to be Finn's psychiatrist. So we'll be seeing a lot more of him.**

**Fifth: Wolf. **

**Wolf is Finn's nemesis throughout the story. In this point of the story they absolutely hate each other and are constantly at each other's throats, but they weren't always like this.**

**Sixth: Tyler.**

**Tyler is a very close friend to Finn. Maybe even his best friend. He has similar beliefs and values to a younger version of Finn. **

**Seventh: Only Time Will Tell.**

**Everything will fall into place later. For now you'll just have to bear with me. (Only if you want to. Nobody's forcing you)**

**Eighth: The Fall Of A Young Hero.**

**The events that happen to Finn cause him to change. Especially the things that happen to him while he's gone.**

**Ninth: Flashback**

**There will be a flashback in which the events that happened prior to Finn leaving will be explained.**

**Tenth (Final): The Time Away**

**The events during the years he is gone, will be explained.**

**Do NOT worry! I am working on the next chapter RIGHT NOW. The reason why I posted this right now was because this chapter was going to be really long and I just had to find a stopping point. I'll try my best to post the next chapter sometime before Thursday or Friday. But in the meantime, tell me what you think of the story so far.**

**With love,**

**~Sianvar**


	6. Price to Pay

**Author's Note: I did it. I kept THIS promise. Yeah!**

* * *

><p>[Three Years Ago]<p>

(Finn)

He woke up with the bright sun shining in his eyes. He simply sighed and rose up from his bed and made his way downstairs. When he reached the living room, he was greeted by none other than BMO.

"Who wants to play video games?" It asked excitedly

Finn looked at the little teal robot and stayed silent.

"Finn, what is wrong?" BMO asked

"I don't feel like talking about it, BMO."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Do you know where Jake is?" He asked

"He will be back later. He said he had to go do some things." BMO told him

"Oh."

"If Jake asks later, tell him I kept you busy with video games."

"Okay, BMO. I will." He chuckled

Finn went to his fridge and pulled out a carton of milk. He sniffed the milk and made a disgusted face. It was spoiled. He threw that in the trash and pulled out some turkey meat and mayonnaise instead. He opened up his pantry and pulled out a loaf of bread. He set all the ingredients on the table and pulled out a butter knife. He quickly put together a sandwich and proceeded to eat it. After that he grabbed a cup and poured himself some orange juice from the fridge. He quickly drunk it. He placed the cup in the sink and walked back into his room. He grabbed a pair of blue shorts and a blue shirt along with some underwear and headed into the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

><p>(15 minutes later)<p>

He came out feeling a bit more refreshed and plopped down on his bed. He picked up his hair brush and started brushing out his hair

"What should I do today?" He asked himself

"I could hang out with Peebles, but she's always busy with her experiments and stuff, and Marcy's been gone for weeks. Man, I need some more friends." He said lowly

"I guess I could just go walk around and get some fresh air."

He got off his bed and looked around the room for his back pack and hat. He spotted his back pack in the corner of the room, snatched it up and threw it on. He made his way to his night stand, picked up his hat and put it on. back downstairs and picked a spare sword off the floor and walked out the door.

* * *

><p>When he stepped outside, he was caught off guard as the sunlight blinded him. He started to walk around blindly, but regained his vision as his eyes eventually adjusted to the sunlight. He began thinking of Flame Princess once more.<p>

"What's wrong with me? Why doesn't she like me anymore?" Finn asked himself

"She said she realized she had a kingdom to rule over, so that kept her from getting back with me. Then Cinnamon Bun sorta just..kept me away from her. Why? Why did this have to happen?! Why did I have to be so stupid?!" He yelled

"Yelling to yourself isn't exactly attractive, weenie." A familiar voice bursted in from behind him

He turned around and found himself face-to-face with Marceline, the vampire queen.

"Hey, Marceline." He said lowly

"Why the long face?"

"It's nothing."

"You're a horrible liar, Finn."

"I just don't wanna talk about it."

"Talking about it might make you feel better."

"Ok. It's just.." He sighed deeply "I-I can't stop thinking about someone."

"Who?" She asked curiously

"Flame Pr-..er...Flame King."

"I didn't know you were into older men, Finn, but if it makes you ha-"

"No no no no! It's uhh..ok, look. Her name is Flame Princess, well was, and she overthrew her dad and took the title of the new Flame King."

"Wow. That's pretty hardcore."

"Yeah."

"Why don't you stop being such a scaredy-cat and just go see her."

"I would, but she sorta banished from the Fire Kingdom.."

"Whoa. When did this happen?"

"Yesterday."

"Why'd she do that?"

"She said I was acting "too weird" and that we shouldn't see each other for a while."

"Sounds like you two broke up or something."

Finn lowered his head.

"Oh."

"It's alright. You didn't know."

They were quiet for some time before Marceline spoke up again.

"So how did this whole relationship thing with this Flame Princess, happen anyhow?"

"It's a long story, Marcy."

"I've got the time." She said as she floated in circles around him

"Are you sure you wanna hear it?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

He then explained the events that happened over the whole span of their relationship, from the rainy night when they first met, all the way to the banishment from the kingdom. Marceline just floated there with her sunhat and umbrella, listening to the boy tell his problems.

"So that leads me up to now. I was gonna go walk around and get some fresh air until you showed up."

"Is it a bad thing I did?" She asked jokingly

"No no no no no!" He said while blushing

"Calm down, you spaz." She said

"I actually feel a lot better now." Finn said

"I told you it'd make you feel better. And if you ask me, I think she over-reacted. Especially since you apologized."

"Yeah, I guess so. So what've you been up to? I haven't seen you in weeks."

"Nothing much. I went to the Night-O-Sphere to help my dad out with some things and played a couple of gigs across the land. Of course I had some 'road troubles' but I made it back just fine."

"Sounds totes cool."

"Totes? Really, Finn?"

"What? I like totes. I totes like totes!"

"You're such a weenie. Like for realsies."

"For realsies, Marceline?" Finn asked while laughing

"Oh shut up."

Finn scratched his hat, which brought Marceline to another question.

"Do you ever take off your hat?"

"Uh..yeah. Like when I take showers and stuff."

"I don't think I've ever seen your hair."

"Do you wanna see it?" He asked quietly

"Sure."

He began reaching for his hat and was about to pull it off until they heard a cry for help coming from a near by forest.

"Help me!"

Finn dropped his hand from his hat and tightened the grip on his sword

"Sorry, Marcy! Someone needs my help!" He said as he ran towards the cries for help.

"So close." She said to herself

* * *

><p>Finn was dashing through the trees. As he made his way closer, the cries grew louder. He found a single woman with long brown hair on the floor crying. He made his way closer to her and asked what's wrong. She kept on crying. He placed his hand on her shoulder. She quickly looked at him with her green frightened eyes.<p>

"What's the matter, lady?" He asked calmly

"They killed him." She said while crying

Finn felt his hairs stand up straight. Someone was actually killed.

"Killed who?"

"My husband.."

Finn felt his heart sink. He couldn't imagine losing the person he loved for good.

"Who killed him?" Finn asked

"Bandits.."

"Do you know who these bandits were? Where they went off to?"

Finn heard footsteps behind him and turned around. He saw several men staring at him. He heard the woman on the floor laughing and felt something pierce his back and exit through his stomach. He yelled out in pain and fell on to his stomach. The woman came up to him and tore his back pack off his back and opened it.

"That always works." The woman said as she began searching through his back pack.

"Shit." The woman muttered to herself

"Argh! AHHH!" Finn yelled in pain while gripping his stomach, pathetically blocking the blood that so desperately wanted to leave his body

"Yeah. I know it hurts." The lady said as she pulled the sword out of his back, resulting in the human falling back to the ground, yelling out in pain once more. His blood was falling on to the grass, coloring it red.

"AGHHH!"

"Stop screaming!" The lady told him as she put her hand against his mouth and pressed the bloody sword against his neck.

One of the men standing, a man with short brown hair and clothing made from deer skin, ran to where they were at.

"Janet, stop this. He's just a kid!"

"Shut up, Evan!"

"I can't let you do this!" The man known as Evan said as he threw Janet away from Finn and picked him up, blood dripping, and started running.

"I'm so sorry. I should've stopped her." Evan said to the young human

"Do not let them go! Kill them!" Janet's voice came from behind them.

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

Marceline swore she heard Finn scream. She was getting worried for the young hero as her search went on. As she was floating, a familiar scent filled her nostrils. Blood.

"Oh no." She said to herself and flew through the forest even faster, following the scent.

"Please be ok. Please be ok, Finn."

* * *

><p>(Evan)<p>

Janet and the other men were hot on Evan and Finn's heels as they ran throughout the forest.

"Shit." Evan said as he was panting

An arrow whizzed by his head as he was running.

"Gotta find a way out." He said to himself

He soon found a way out of the woods and started running off into the distance.

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

Marceline was flying above the forest, still searching for Finn when she saw a figure run out of the woods that looked like it was carrying something. Or someone.

* * *

><p>(Evan)<p>

Evan was running out of breath real fast and his legs were burning bad, but they were still behind him. He then felt an extreme pain in his leg causing him to yell and fall, which resulted in Finn falling as well. He looked at his leg and saw an arrow stuck in it.

"I got 'em!" One of the men said excitedly

"Oh no." Evan said to himself as the men drew near

Marceline landed right next to him and rushed to Finn.

"No no no no no." She began saying to herself

"He's still alive." Evan spoke up

The raven haired girl turned to him

"What did you do to him?" She asked

"Ask them." He said while pointing to the group of bandits coming towards them

Marceline walked to the bandits.

"Look we got us a vampire!" One of them yelled

"And a sexy one." Another one shouted

"I heard they suck your blood and leave you dry." One said

"I have something she can-"

* * *

><p>(Marceline)<p>

"Who did this to him?" Marceline asked angrily

The whole bunch were quiet. Soon a voice spoke out

"That would be me." Janet said while stepping out of the crowd

Marceline's eyes darkened as she extended her claws and dashed towards Janet. She caught Janet off guard and immeadiately slashed her throat. Blood soon began flowing out of Janet's neck as her eyes widened. The blood began splattering on the grass. The group of bandits soon fled in all directions. Janet collapsed on the ground but was still struggling. Marceline retracted her claws and her eyes returned to their crimson beauty. Marceline caught sight of the girl struggling to breathe. Struggling to live. The queen walked up to the girl and kneeled next her. Janet continued struggling as Marceline soon placed her index finger on her chest quickly extended her claw into her, piercing her heart. Marceline then got off the ground and quickly made her way over to Evan and Finn.

"Thank you." Evan said

"I should be thanking you."

"Huh?"

"You managed to keep him alive until I found you two. Thank you."

Marceline picked the unconscious hero off the ground.

"Thank you..uhh." She trailed off

"Evan." He answered

"Grab my hand."

"Um..ok." He said as he grabbed her hand.

As soon as he grabbed her hands, she quickly flew through the air.

* * *

><p>[The Candy Kingdom's Hospital]<p>

(10 Minutes later)

She landed in the main lobby of the hospital. Hospital staff quickly rushing Evan and a bloody Finn to the operating room. Princess Bubblegum had caught word of what happened and came into the hospital.

"What in Glob's name happened, Marceline?" She asked worriedly

Marceline sat down in a chair and blew her hair out of her face.

"If you really want to know, you'll have to ask Evan."

Princess Bubblegum's eyes seem to widen as she finished her sentence.

"Evan? What does this Evan, look like?"

"That's an odd question even for you, Bonnie." Marceline said as she floated off the chair and layed down. "Well, he had brown hair, brown eyes, deer skin clothing."

"Okay." Princess Bubblegum replied

The princess soon pulled a nurse towards her

"Notify me when the patient known as Evan will get out of surgery. I have some important questions to ask him."

"Yes, your majesty." The nurse said somewhat sheepishly

Marceline stared at the floor, hoping that Finn was alright. She was covered in blood but she didn't mind. The only thing she had on her mind was Finn. He'd been through so much and did what he could for everyone, but it was that very thing that put him in this position. He couldn't ever stop being a hero.

* * *

><p><strong>You know how this thing goes. Thanks for viewing and reviewing! Every single one of you. Once again, I'm sorry for not posting yesterday. So sorry. <strong>**Next couple of chapters will continue from this point. (Which is in the past.) Yay! ****So please, review this chapter and/or story! Thank you, I love you all.**

**With love,**

**Sianvar the Raconteur**


	7. Nightmare

**Author's Note: 1,988 views, 14 favorites and 16 followers! Damn!**

**First off, I'd like to thank personally The Nephilim King Michael, MR. NONO, and He23t for reviewing last chapter! You guys are what keep me posting chapters here! I wish a little more people would review but hey, I haven't put much on the table for them to review and that's ok. I just hope later I'll get a little more. **

**As for TiddleFits, this is a pretty cool coincidence! I'm really glad you're enjoying the story as well.**

* * *

><p>Two hours had passed as Marceline waited in the hospital. She eventually cleaned herself and changed clothes so she wouldn't scare the other people in the waiting room. She was now wearing a grey tank top, some blue jeans and her infamous red boots.<p>

She was seriously concerned for the human now. Sure he was someone who wouldn't give up easily, but the wound he sustained was very serious. And after all, he was only human. Jake was there as well, anxiously biting his nails while waiting. Princess Bubblegum had notified him of what had transpired earlier that day.

A nurse made her way to Princess Bubblegum.

"One of the patients has made it out of surgery and is resting in a room right now."

Jake jumped up

"Finn! Oh, I knew you would make it buddy!"

"I'm sorry, but he's still in the operating room. The patient known as Evan is the one who has just come out." The nurse said

Jake's enthusiasm died down quickly as a look of dread spreaded across his face. Princess Bubblegum got up and asked

"Where is the room that he is in?"

"He is in room 114. Please be careful when you are there with him. He's still recovering, your highness."

"Okay. I'll make sure to it that I do." Princess Bubblegum replied as she walked away

Marceline and Jake stood up as well and followed the princess to Evan's room.

As they were walking through the hallway, Jake started panicking

"What if Finn doesn't wake up? What if he doesn't make it through the surgery?"

Marceline stopped walking and stared at him in shock

"How can you say that? You're his brother. He's gonna make it, Jake. Just calm down and take a deep breath."

Jake began to inhale and exhale

"Okay. Okay. I think I'm good."

"Don't beat yourself up Jake, we're all on edge." Marceline said softly as she floated onward "I just wish that Finn would stop being a goody-two-shoes and see the world for what it really is." She said lowly as she began floating towards Princess Bubblegum, who was at the end of the hall, opening the door to the room.

'What could she mean by that?' Jake thought to himself as he caught up with them

* * *

><p>[Now]<p>

"I still don't know why that lady did it." Finn said

"So that really changed the way you looked at things, huh?" Sam asked Finn

"Honestly, it did."

"It altered your mind; morphing it into a cage so nobody could get in."

"It's what kept me alive."

"But at what cost?" Sam asked

* * *

><p>[Three Years Ago]<p>

"Hey there, Princess." Evan said as he sat up in the hospital bed

"I trusted you with this assignment and you let it get out of hand. How did this happen?" Princess Bubblegum said as she walked in

"Assignment? What assignment?" Marceline asked as she emerged into the room as well

Bubblegum sighed. She really didn't feel like explaining herself to Marceline right now, but she knew that if she didn't explain then there would be even more problems.

"Several weeks back a gang began terrorizing the Candy Kingdom. They called themselves the Hunters. These so-called 'hunters' began to act more and more hostile towards the kingdom, endangering my life and the lives of candy citizens. I couldn't take them down by force because they had always hid in the shadows. Attacking when I'd least expect it."

"I don't see what this has to do with him." Marceline said as she pointed to Evan

"I'm getting there! Well anyways a couple weeks back I managed to get Evan here into the Hunters. I wanted him to gain their trust and get closer to their leader, Janet, so he could..dispatch her, but it never really got to that point as you can see."

Evan looked hurt as she finished that last sentence.

Jake walked over to Evan.

"Tell me what happened to Finn. Now." He said sternly

* * *

><p>[Now]<p>

"Do you know why I became a hero, an adventurer?"

"I don't."

"I always had the idea that I could follow in my dad's footsteps, you know? Be the great person he was when he was a hero. I wanted to make him proud."

"Finn, you already have. You're his son. There was nothing that could've made him prouder than what he already was."

* * *

><p>[Three Years Ago]<p>

"And that's how we ended up here." Evan concluded

Princess Bubblegum looked at Marceline in shock.

"Marceline...no. You're better than that. I know you are." She said

"I..I don't know how it happened. I can't even remember it clearly. I-I was so angry. I saw Finn and what happened to him and I.." Marceline trailed off

* * *

><p>[Now]<p>

"Maybe you're right. I just wish he was alive still." Finn said

"If you had a chance to talk to him, what would you say?" Sam asked

"I'd tell him a lot of things. I'd tell him about the things he missed while he was gone."

"And if he asked you about Jake, what would you tell him then?"

"I...I don't know what I would tell him."

"You would tell him the truth."

* * *

><p>[Three Years Ago]<p>

"Finn the human has just been released from surgery and is in room 117." The nurse told everybody in the room

"Finn!" Jake yelled as he ran out of the room

Marceline and Princess Bubblegum soon followed, leaving Evan to his lonesome. When they made it to Finn's room the color vanished from their faces. He was laying there, deathly pale with a bandages around his chest. Jake just stood there, looking at his brother lay on the bed, inches from death. He then jumped out the window, stretched his limbs and ran.

"Jake!" Marceline and Princess Bubblegum shouted in unison

They stood there as they watched him fade into the distance.

* * *

><p>(Finn)<p>

He was sitting in the middle of a field. The long grass flowed freely as the wind blew. He looked up and saw the night sky. He felt at peace as he layed down on to the grass. He looked at the stars and closed his eyes.

"Wake up." A mysterious voice told him

Finn quickly opened his eyes and felt his stomach drop at what he saw. The grass was in flames. He looked around himself and found himself face-to-face with Flame Princess. She walked closer and closer to him. He watched her as she made his way closer and closer to him. The grass below her feet decayed and fell apart with each step she took. Finally she was a couple of inches away from Finn.

"I've missed you so much, Finn" She spoke to him

She placed her hand against his cheek and caressed it. He closed his eyes and felt an old familiar feeling rise within him. He longed for her and the warmth she always brought. He was lonely ever since the day they broke up. If only he knew better back then. Maybe, just maybe, things would've be different. But this wasn't her. She was at the Fire Kingdom, ruling over her people. This was just an illusion.

He opened his eyes and found himself looking at the Lich.

The Lich simply looked at him with his hollow eyes, staring into his very being. The air around him grew colder and a icy sensation filled his insides.

Fear.

He looked at a nearby tree and saw a golden little owl sitting on it. Watching.

"Look at me, boy!" The Lich yelled

Finn quickly placed his eyes on him.

"I am the one who shall prevail this time, my child. Your body shall be my vessel as I disintegrate this land and everything that resides in it. When it is done, then and only then you will have my permission to suffer. Prepare yourself for me when the time comes. You have not much time to spare. So wake up."

With those words, Finn finally opened his eyes.

* * *

><p>He looked all around him and noticed he was in a hospital bed. The room itself was empty. He felt sore and began stretching his arms. He noticed that he had a bandage wrapped around his chest. Then it all came back to him. The forest and the lady who stabbed him. He tried getting off the bed but fell on the floor. He tried pulling himself up but simply couldn't. He felt weak, tired. As he layed on the floor he heard footsteps coming from down the hall and quickly tried pulling himself back up. The door to his room opened.<p>

"Finn!" A feminine voice yelled

Finn looked up to see himself looking at Princess Bubblegum

"Finn! You're awake!" She said as she hugged him

"Uh..yeah."

"I have to call Jake and Marceline! Let's get you off the floor!" She said as she helped him off the floor and back on to his bed.

She pulled out her holo-pendant and began recording a message

"Jake, good news! Finn has just woken up! I figured you'd wanna know as soon as possible so hurry over here."

She then put the pendant away and looked back at Finn

"Uh..Princess?"

"Yes?"

"How long exactly was I out?"

Princess Bubblegum looked down at the floor and stayed quiet. Finn then became even more worried.

"Princess?"

She looked back up at him

"Finn, you've been unconscious for two months."

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, I know. I'm sorry, but I needed to post something. <strong>

**In more recent news, I'm writing another Adventure Time story! It is a modern-high-school-alternate-universe-type of thing. It includes the regular and gender-bent characters. **

**There are two protagonists in the story. Two protagonists? Yes, two protagonists! As far as pairings go, there might be something to please everyone.**

**I have been planning the new story for three weeks and finally started typing. Updating is going to be pretty rough though. I barely make it with this story. So the new story might be updated...weirdly with no set schedule.**

**I just need help with coming up with Flame Princess' and Fire Prince's new names. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated greatly.**

**(If you wish to know more about my new story, simply PM me)**

**Thank you all for reading.**

**With love,**

**Sianvar the Raconteur **


	8. Dreams

"Whhat!"

"Finn, calm down. Look I know that this is a little hard to take in but it was only two months!"

"That's easy for you to say! You're like a bajillion years old!"

Princess Bubblegum gave him an angry look

"Eep!" Finn yelped

"Anyways, the numbness in your legs should go away in a couple of hours." Princess Bubblegum told him reassuringly

Finn looked down at the bandage on his chest and inspected it.

"You'll be able to take the bandage off as soon as you leave the hospital."

"Sweet." He remarked

The sound of drills and heavy machinery echoed throughout the kingdom. Slight vibrations could be felt as the construction went on.

"What's with all the noise?" Finn asked curiously

"Recently I've decided in adding an extension to the Candy Kingdom." She answered him

"What kind of extension?" He asked

"An extension to the hospital."

"For..?"

Princess Bubblegum stayed quiet as she began thiinking of how to tell him what exactly the addition was to the kingdom in the simplest of ways

"Finn, you know how all the candy people are happy and cheery?"

"Yeah."

"There are also other ones who aren't.. as happy as them."

"What do you mean?"

"They have a hard time finding joy in life. They're sick, Finn."

"Isn't there already a section of the hospital that has sick people?"

"Yes, but these are.. different kinds of illnesses. They're sick.. mentally. The section that's being built is going to be a psychiatric ward."

"FINN!" A voice busted in from the window

"Huh?" Finn said as he looked towards the window of the room and saw Jake stretching his way to him.

"Jake, watch ou-!"

Finn was cut off as Jake crashed into him, hugging him tightly.

"Thank Glob, you're alright!" Jake exclaimed happily

"Jake.. I c-cant breathe.." Finn huffed out as he struggled to breathe

"Sorry." Jake said as he loosened up a bit

Finn looked at the dresser next to his bed and saw a bouquet of flowers.

"Who put these here?" Finn asked

"We actually don't know. There's always been a new bouquet of flowers for you every week ever since you were admitted here."

"That's so.. nice." Finn said softly

"About time you woke up." A voice popped in

Finn looked towards the window and saw Marceline floating in through the window.

"Hey, Marceline!" Finn said happily

"Marceline is the one who brought you to the hospital." Princess Bubblegum said to him

Finn looked at Marceline

"Really? Thanks."

"I.. uh.. yeah.. you're welcome." She said shyly

"If I could get up, I would hug you." Finn exclaimed

Marceline then floated over to Finn and gave him a hug. Finn hugged her back even tighter. After a while they let go of each other. Princess Bubblegum began talking to Jake about when she was going to release Finn out of the hospital.

Finn looked off into the distance, thinking of the dream.

'_Was it a warning? No, it couldn't be. The Lich is still stuck in Prismo's time room._' He thought to himself

"Finn, did you hear me?" Princess Bubblegum said to him

He snapped back from his thoughts

"Uhh..what?" He said dumbly

"You'll be released from here in three hours. The only problem that you'll have is the numbness in your legs, but as I said, It'll go away eventually." Princess Bubblegum explained to him

"Awesome!" He exclaimed cheerfully

Princess Bubblegum couldn't help but smile at the young boy. Two months ago he was so close to death. Literally.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Flashback <strong>_

[**Two Months Ago**]

"Jake!" Marceline and Princess Bubblegum cried out in unison

They stood there as they watched him fade into the distance.

Marceline walked up to the bed that Finn was laying in. She looked at him and noticed his labored breathing. He was having a bad dream. His forehead was sweaty and his face looked like he was in pain. Not physical, but emotional pain. He looked scared.

"Hello." A voice said

Marceline turned around and found herself looking at Death.

"No!" She yelled at him

"It's only a matter of time before he comes to me." He said while looking at his watch

"He's not dying!" Marceline said to him

"He's slipping away slowly."

"No." Marceline said as she felt her eyes water up

There was a moment of silence. Marceline turned away from Death as she tried taking in what was happening

Death sat down in mid-air. He then looked at Princess Bubblegum

"Do you study philosophy by any chance?" He asked her

"For a time I did." She answered briefly

"You see, there was a question that none of the humans could answer. Haunted them for several millenia. It had to do with every living thing in existence. Do you know what that question was?"

"What was it?" She asked him

"It was the meaning of life. Nobody knew what they lived for and constantly asked themselves what it meant to live. I can tell you what it is. Death is the answer to the life, everything lives to die. It is inevitable. It will occur in all living things. Even you two."

Princess Bubblegum just looked at him

"But that doesn't mean that you should stop yourselves from living. To live your life in constant fear of death is the true crime." He said as he looked back at Finn

Jake soon stretched through the window with a jar of cyclops tears in his hands. He opened the jar and drenched Finn in the cyclops tears.

"This boy still has much more to do. The Cosmic Owl has told me of what he's done..and what he will do."

The wounds on Finn began to fade away quite quickly

"Good luck, Finn the human. You're gonna need it." Death said as he vanished into dust

_**Flashback over**_

* * *

><p>'<em>What's gonna happen to you, Finn?<em>' Princess Bubblegum thought to herself

Finn sat up in his bed.

"Guys, I think something might happen."

"What do you mean?" Jake asked

"I had a dream. The Cosmic Owl was there.. and so was the Lich."

Everyone in the room was silent

"That can't be true! The Lich is stuck in Prismo's time room! What exactly happened?" Jake asked

"It was scary. I was in a field of grass, relaxing. Then next thing I knew, everything was on fire and Flame Princess was there. She walked up to me and touched my cheek and then all of a sudden I was looking at the Lich."

"Did he say anything?" Jake asked worriedly

"He said.. for me to be ready for him. He's going to use me like he used Billy. He said he's going to make me kill everyone and make me suffer."

"And the Cosmic Owl was there? Did he say anything?"

"I swore I heard murmuring, but that's pretty much it. I can't remember if he said anything.."

Silence once again overtook the room as everyone was trying to process what exactly Finn's dream was.

* * *

><p><strong>[Four hours later]<strong>

(Finn & Jake's Treefort)

"Aren't you worried about the Lich?" Finn asked Jake

"Well, yeah, but I don't wanna really just focus on him. I mean, we still have time to train."

"We don't even know how much time we have left!" Finn exclaimed

"Well, you can't do anything until you can walk. We can start training when you can walk properly." Jake said

"Okay.." Finn said as he tried getting up from his bed, but ended up falling on his face.

Jake tried holding in his laughter but ended up laughing really loudly. Finn looked up at him, his face turning beet red.

"I'm sorry, Finn!" Jake said while laughing

Finn grunted and put his face back on the wooden floor. Jake stretched his arms around Finn and placed him back on the bed.

"Baby steps, Finn. Baby steps." Jake told him

Finn nodded and swung his feet back on to the floor. He gently pressed his feet on the floor and began to rise up. His legs began wobbling as he got off the bed.

"Yeah, you got it, buddy!" Jake exclaimed

Finn began to take a step but quickly collapsed. Jake caught him as he fell.

"Whoa!" Jake said as he caught

"Damn it." Finn muttered to himself

"You'll get it eventually, Finn."

Finn and Jake then spent the next several hours trying to get Finn to walk. The most progress that they had made was a couple of steps. Finn was exhausted as the day had come to a close. Jake was just bored out of his mind. It was a very long and stale process of walking and falling.

"Hey, Jake!" Finn called out to Jake, who was sleeping in his bed.

"Whut?" He said sleepily

"How about we call it a night?"

"Yeah.." Jake said as he pulled his blanket over him and shrank himself.

"Cool." Finn said to himself as he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>(The Candy Kingdom)<p>

Princess Bubblegum was sitting down at her desk in her room. She had been scribbling notes for the past three hours. Calculating all the possibilities of the Lich coming back to Ooo. When it came to it, scientific-wise there was no possibility of him coming back, but when it came to unknown sciences (magic), the possibilities could be endless. Her brain was begining to ache from all the thinking she had been doing. Sure she wasn't a stranger when it came to thinking, but when it came to hypothetical and theoretical situations about something serious, they would give her terrible migraines. Her eyes felt as if they couldn't close. She'd been staring at the same journal for quite a while and it was making her somewhat annoyed. If the Lich were to come back, everything she cherished and loved could be eradicated completely. Including her.

"How? How could he come back?" She asked herself out loud

"It just doesn't make any sense. Based off of what Jake told me, the Lich would surely be there for a long time, but now all of a sudden he's coming back!"

A knock on her door caught her attention. She walked up to it and opened it. She gasped at what she saw. It was the Lich.

The Lich quickly grabbed her throat. She tried prying his hands off her neck and while gasping for air.

"Do you wish for me to let go?" He asked hoarsely

She didn't bother in answering. She knew the question was rhetorical. The Lich walked into the room, Princess Bubblegum still in his grip. He saw the journal on her desk and began reading it. As he was reading it, she looked out the window and saw a golden owl sitting on a tree next to her window, observing her. The owl began saying something, but she couldn't quite decipher what.

"You want to know how I'm able to come back?" He asked

He slammed her head against the wall, cracking it.

"You do not need to know, child. Just know that I will." He told her as he stared into her eyes

He squeezed her throat with all his might and broke her neck.

Princess Bubblegum woke up covered in sweat and her heart pounding in her chest. She was still sitting at her desk. There was knocking at her bedroom door. She held her breath as the knocking persisted. She slowly got up out of her chair and walked over to the door. She quickly unlocked the door and swung it open. She sighed with relief as she saw Peppermint Butler standing with a small plate and a cup of tea on top of it.

"Are you alright, Princess?" The little peppermint asked concerningly

"Yes, I'm fine, Peppermint. I just had a bad dream that's all." She said while forcing a chuckle

"Ok. Well here is your tea, Princess."

"Thank you." She said politely

"May I ask as to what disturbed you so much in that dream?"

"It's.."

"It's not about _her_ again is it?" He whispered

"No. It was.. about the Lich." She said lowly

"The Lich?"

"He..he's coming back. Back to Ooo."

"How can you be so sure, Princess? I thought that Jake said it would be impossible for him to escape from the time room?"

"Jake was correct.. for a time, but someway, somehow, the Lich is coming back. In my dream the Lich came into my room and told me that he was coming. As he was talking, I noticed a little owl outside my window. The Cosmic Owl. He was saying something, but I couldn't figure out what. Then the Lich.." She trailed off as she looked to the floor

"What did he do?" He asked her

"He killed me."

* * *

><p>(Marceline's House)<p>

Marceline made her way downstairs and into her kitchen. She was quite tired. It was ironic really, given that she's a creature of the night and that she was feeling quite sleepy tonight. She floated to her fridge and pulled out an apple. She sunk her fangs into it and sucked the color from it. The fact that the Lich was coming back kind of frightened her. Everything could just die as soon as he came back. She didn't want that at all. She had faith in Finn. Faith that he could beat the Lich for good this time. She put the apple on the kitchen table and made her way back into her bedroom. She floated over to her bed and hovered over it while closing her eyes.

* * *

><p>She opened her eyes and found herself in the ballroom of the Candy Kingdom. She was dancing with somebody, but she didn't know who. Everything around them was a blur as they danced. A piano was playing in the background, adding to the atmosphere. She looked at the person she was dancing with, but couldn't see the person's face. Just a white face mask with two holes for the eyes. The left iris was green while the other was blue.<p>

* * *

><p>She blinked and found herself crying in her room. She didn't know why she was, but she knew that it was over someone or something. She picked up a picture frame and looked at the picture. It was a picture of her with someone else. She was smiling, and the other person's face was scratched out. She felt anger rise up in her as she held the picture frame. She then incinerated the picture frame in her hands, causing it to turn into ashes and fall to the floor. She stared at the floor as the tears dripped down her face.<p>

* * *

><p>She looked up and found herself looking at a light blue portal. She was stood there as she saw someone go through it, leaving her in her room once more. Her chest felt empty. She looked down at a piece of paper she had in her hand. It was a note. She knew what the note was and at the same time she didn't. All she really knew was that it hurt reading it. She had tears falling down her face. She felt a deep sorrow within her undead body. The sadness burning into her very being. She resumed in crying as she let go of the note.<p>

* * *

><p>She felt herself losing a grip of reality as the world spun around her once more. Now she saw Finn. He was standing in the center of the Imperial Ballroom of the Candy Kingdom. He was wearing a tuxedo and his blonde hair flowed freely down his shoulders. Blood was splattered all over the walls and on the floor. She saw Princess Bubblegum laying on the floor, dead. She had been fatally stabbed in the heart. She returned her attention to Finn. He stood silently, back facing her with a sword in his hand. It was covered in blood.<p>

"Finn.." She said softly

He turned around and faced her. His hair quickly turned black as he looked at her. She was shocked at what she saw. The left side of his face was missing its flesh, exposing his skull. What made it worse was that he had horns sticking out of his head. His left eye was hollow and green.

"May I have the pleasure of this dance, Marceline?" He said as he held his hand out to her, his voice a mixture of the Lich's and his own.

She stood still, frozen with shock and fear. Next thing she knew, he was right in front of her. He grabbed a hold of her hand and waist and began dancing with her. He was as tall as her now. They danced across the Imperial Ballroom, making their way from one side to the other. A violin played a soft and soothing sound.

"Okay, now I'm going to spin you around." He said as they found their way to the center of the ballroom.

He spun her around and pulled her back to him. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach

"Forgive me, my queen." He spoke as she looked down to her stomach

He had impaled her with the sword. Her blood came out of her mouth and splattered on to the floor. He gave her a kiss on the lips and pulled the sword out of her. She fell to the floor, blood pouring out of her stomach. Finn then dropped the sword to the floor.

"_Moriens tibi habeas, lamia._"He spoke softly as he walked away

Her insides felt cold as he departed. A golden owl landed right next to her.

"You can change this." The owl spoke to her as his voice echoed.

She woke up screaming, with tears in her eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Damn. It's been a long while since I've posted a new chapter and I apologize. I've been working on my other story, Brothers.<strong>

**I'd like to give a major shout-out to the fabulous Mr. Nono! This person gave me some very inspirational words. I've been feeling pretty down lately and he gave me some helpful advice! **

* * *

><p><strong>17 followers, 17 favorites and 23 reviews! YES! Thank you all! I'd like to thank all the people who review this story and read it. <strong>

**I love you all! Especially you Mr. Nono! (I couldn't put your name in all caps, sorry.)**

**With love,**

**Sianvar the Raconteur**


	9. Sleepless Nights (Interlude)

_Swinging against the wind,_  
><em>Keeping the noose tight on her skin.<em>  
><em>God will save her, her father's Lucifer, they say.<em>  
><em>Oh do they.<em>

_Does that make it okay?_  
><em>Sin finds the culprit.<em>  
><em>Unexplained circumstances cause people to fear, <em>  
><em>Deceive and act so irrationally.<em>

_Up in the bedroom she's seeing ghosts._  
><em>Demons in clothes, people she knows.<em>

* * *

><p>It had been an hour since Marceline hadn't been able to go back to sleep for fear of more nightmares possibly occurring. She felt like she needed someone to talk to. Somebody who wouldn't judge her. Somebody who wouldn't make fun of her and make her angry. She needed a friend. She picked up her phone and dialed a number. She brought the phone to her ear and waited. After awhile someone picked up the other end.<p>

"Hello?" A small robotic voice asked

"Hey, Beemo. Is Finn awake?" She asked

"Yes."

"Is it alright if I can come over?" She asked

"Yes, but be careful, Finn is sick." Beemo said

"I'll be right over. " She said and hung up the phone

She quickly left her house, taking her umbrella, axe-bass, sunhat and gloves along with her. She didn't know how long she would be away from her house but she felt it absolutely necessary for her to leave. At least for the time being. The cold isolation and loneliness were getting to her again. Sure she had been lonely for a thousand or so years, give or take, but that didn't mean that the loneliness never got to her. It did and sometimes it was just too much for her to handle. She flew out of her cave and began to fly to Finn and Jake's house, taking in all the scenery around her. The mountains, forests, lakes, hills and wildlife that always seemed to be alive at night, or in this case, two in the morning. She felt herself calming down from her anxiety and began to breathe much slower.

"A thousand years and I still can't get over it." She said to herself

She was talking about the loneliness of course, and besides, even if she had a thousand more years added to her lifespan she would never get over it.

* * *

><p>Finn woke up hacking and coughing quite painfully. He felt himself choking as he got up from his bed. He ran into his bathroom, making his way to the toilet and vomited.<p>

"Not again.." He spoke tiredly as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and laid down on the wooden floor.

* * *

><p>She woke up from her bed, startled.<p>

"It was just a dream." The king of flames said to herself " Just a dream."

She got out from under her blankets and got off her bed. She then walked into her bathroom and looked into her reflection. Her flames danced around vividly, flickering around in all directions. She quickly changed her flames into a much more formal outfit in order to fit her status in the Fire Kingdom. She then readjusted her 'hair' into a style that caused it to just touch her shoulders. She walked back into her room and looked out her window. The skies were ashen with a dull grayness. She sighed to herself. The days have been getting more and more lonelier for her. She didn't have anyone to talk to anymore ever since she kicked Finn out of the kingdom. Honestly she still liked him but his affection could jeopardize her position as flame king and she certainly did not want to take that risk. She wasn't ready for anymore risks. She took a risk on him and he betrayed her trust, one of the things she valued most. And even if she decided to try again with him there was always the problem of.. physical contact. She began to blush slightly as she pictured Finn pinning her against a wall, ravaging her without her flames burning him. She quickly shook the thought from her mind.

"No. I can't. Not anymore. I have a kingdom to rule." She said to herself

She made her way out of her chambers and walked down a long hallway, the walls bright orange with red banners on them. She looked straight ahead as she passed many of her council advisors who waved to her. She walked into her throne room and saw her dear old friend, Cinnamon Bun, sitting on the throne, bored out of his mind. Cinnamon Bun noticed her walking up and fully opened his half-lidded eyes.

"Hey." Flame King said to him

"Uh.. hello there, King." He said drowsily

"You can head to bed, CB. You deserve to rest."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She said, smiling at him

"Okay. Thank you." Cinnamon Bun said as he got off he throne and disappeared into the hallway.

She sat down on the throne and let her thoughts roam around in her head.

* * *

><p>BMO had barely finished charging it's battery as it heard a noise come from the bathroom. It jumped up and ran into one of the many holes in the tree.<p>

"Not again.." A voice said weakly

BMO noticed that it was Finn's voice. It crawled out of the hole and made its way into the bathroom. It reached the door of the bathroom and hesitated, deciding if it should really go in there.

"Finn.." The game console called out the hero's name worriedly

The little robot was met with silence. It pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside.

* * *

><p>Princess Bubblegum had been laying down in her bed for quite a while. It had just dawned on her that she was not going to sleep anytime soon. So she decided to get up and get some fresh air. She got off her bed and walked towards a door in her room. She opened it and walked through it. On the other side was a balcony with a candy cane railing. A small table adorned the balcony along with two chairs. She glanced up at the moon as she rested her arms on the railing. She listened to the sound of the wind rolling throughout the land. Her fears were getting the best of her right now. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, trying to relax herself. Would the Lich really come back? The mere thought of it reinforced her fears of losing the ones she loved. She walked back inside and closed the door behind her. She walked to her bed and opened the dresser that was next to it. She opened the top drawer and pulled out a prescription bottle. She opened it and poured five white pills into her hand. She threw them in her mouth and swallowed. She felt the pills slowly making their way down her esophagus, leaving her throat and mouth dry. She walked into her bathroom which was across the room behind another door. She opened the door and walked to the sink. She turned it on and cupped her hands, catching some water in her hands. She brought her hands to her mouth and gulped down the water. She cupped her hands again and repeated this process three more times. After dealing with her dry mouth, she turned off her sink and made her way back to her bed.<p>

"Maybe I can get some sleep now." She told herself as she plopped down on to her bed and closed her eyes, throwing the blankets over herself.

* * *

><p>His insides were on fire. The room reeked of vomit.<p>

"Finn.." A voice called out to him

He couldn't even muster up the strength to answer whoever was calling him. He heard the bathroom door open slowly and the soft pat of footsteps.

"Are you okay, Finn?" A robotic voice asked

He was breathing a lot more harder now. It felt like at any moment he would throw up his intestines. It was painful and it felt ugly.

"Yeah... I'm okay.." Finn said between his labored breaths

The little robot sat next to him and pulled off his hat, letting the boy's blonde hair out. Finn was too out of it to argue with Beemo so he just let it keep the hat. He brought himself to the toilet and vomited once more. A phone rang throughout the house.

"I'll get it." Beemo said as it walked out of the bathroom

Beemo made it's way to the living room where the phone resided and picked it up.

"Hello?" It asked

"Hey, Beemo. Is Finn awake?" Marceline's voice asked

"Yes."

"Is it alright if I can come over?"

"Yes, but be careful, Finn is sick."

"I'll be right over." She said

The line went dead and Beemo hung the phone up and placed it on the kitchen table. It walked back into the bathroom and found Finn still sprawled across the floor.

"Who was it?" Finn asked

"It was the vampire lady."

"Marceline? What did she want?" He asked

"She's coming over. She's going to help make you feel better."

"I don't know if she can, Beemo." Finn sighed

Finn closed his eyes and began taking in deep breaths. He felt nauseous and his stomach was burning deeply.

* * *

><p>He awoke again, startled when he felt a cool breeze wash over him and found the vampire queen talking to Beemo. He was lying on his couch with a blanket tossed over him. The air smelt of soup. Chicken soup. His stomach growled and Marceline turned around, catching sight of the newly awoken human.<p>

"Hey, sleepy." She said while grinning

"Hi." Finn spoke tiredly

"You and your stomach won't have to wait much longer. The soup is almost done."

"Okay. Thanks."

"No problem." She replied casually

Finn squinted his eyes as Marceline kept talking to Beemo. This didn't seem right. Marceline would've never taken care of him. So why put on the guardian angel act now? It just didn't make sense.

"How are you feeling, Finn?" Beemo asked

"I'm feeling a lot less crappy than before. Where's Jake?"

"After you passed out, I put you on the couch and I told Beemo to tell Jake of the situation and that we'd take care of it. So of course, he went back to sleep." Marceline answered him

"Beemo, do you mind if I talk to Marceline alone?" Finn asked

"I shall let you two talk." The little robot said as it left the room

"What's all that about?" Marceline said

"What are you doing here, Marceline?" Finn questioned

"What, I can't hang out with my best friend?" She asked

"Stop that. There's a reason why you're here, but you're not telling me." Finn said lowly

Marceline sighed

"I had a dream tonight. It was like your's, but worse."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: This chapter is more of a filler. That is why it's an interlude. I wrote this so I could practice my writing. Another chapter coming soon.<strong>

**-Samuel the Raconteur**


	10. The Calm

Peppermint Butler was standing on the balcony of a abandoned apartment. The night sky was a dark mixture of green and black. Storm clouds lingered overhead as the wind was blowing. He turned around and faced a hooded figure.

"Several kingdoms have been devastated already." The hooded person spoke

"Which kingdoms?" The candy servant asked

"Rock Kingdom, Water Kingdom, Jungle Kingdom, Breakfast Kingdom and the Fire Kingdom. Bonnibel needs to know this, Peppermint. He's coming back to finish what he started."

Peppermint Butler closed his eyes and sighed.

"We're out of time." The figure told him softly

"We never had that much to begin with. It was only a matter of time before he'd come back." Peppermint replied lowly

"So now what?" The figure asked

"We prepare. I'll be sure to let the rest of the kingdoms know this. Thank you for all you've done. Farewell, Huntress Wizard." He spoke as he walked out the door of the apartment

* * *

><p>Peppermint Butler didn't really like how he had to play two different characters in his life. One was the Peppermint Butler that everyone knew. The one that assisted Princess Bubblegum in her daily duties and overlooked the responsibilities of the other candy servants. Then there was the other side of him that only a select few of people knew of. That was the one that gave him his reputation with certain forbidden matters along with dark magic and such. That was the side of himself that he preferred to be, but by being that person that would mean he would have to leave the Candy Kingdom in order to escape imprisonment or perhaps even death.<p>

But he couldn't possibly bring himself to do so. Princess Bubblegum would fall apart without him. Not her kingdom, but the princess herself. He was always there for her when she needed someone to talk to. So what would happen to her if he suddenly left? He was so lost in thought that he reached the steps to the castle without even knowing it. Now he had to play the other character. The simple servant of a princess.

* * *

><p>"PRINCESS! PRINCESS!" Peppermint Butler cried out as he ran through the kingdom<p>

"What is it?"Princess Bubblegum asked as she came into the main lobby

The tiny butler finally reached the Princess but was out of breath.

"There's been sight of an undead army marching directly to this kingdom!"

"WHAT? Are you sure? How do you know?"

"Yes! I saw them myself! They're marching now as we speak!" Peppermint shouted

"You need to gather the entire army right now!"

"Right away!" He exclaimed as he dashed off

* * *

><p>"You had a dream like mine?" Finn said as he sat up on the couch<p>

"Yeah.." Marceline replied

"What happened?" Finn asked concerningly

"A lot of things happened, Finn."

"Like what?"

"You killed me."

"What?! You know I won't do that, Marcy. You're like, my best friend."

"I know."

"Was the Cosmic Owl there?"

Marceline sighed and floated up in the air.

"Yes."

"Why? Why would I hurt you?" Finn asked himself

"Let me finish."

Finn quickly stopped murmuring to himself and looked back up at Marceline.

"He also said that I could change that."

Finn was about to say something but the phone in the kitchen started ringing.

"I need to get that." Finn said as he got off the couch and walked into the kitchen. He picked up the phone from the counter and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Finn! We need your help!" Princess Bubblegum's voice said to him

"Whoa, calm down princess. What's going on?"

"There's no time to explain!"

"Ok, princess. We're on our way!" Finn said as he hung up

Marceline knew exactly who that was on the other side of the phone as she flew towards him with her arms crossed.

"Jake!" Finn called out to his sleeping brother

"Wow. After all this time and she still has you wrapped around her little pink finger." Marceline spat at him

"It's not like that." Finn quickly replied.

She could see him tensing up. Finn called out Jake's name again. Jake could be heard groaning as well as creaking as he got out of his bed. Jake stretched his way downstairs and walked into the kitchen.

"What is it?" Jake asked tiredly

"C'mon Jake. We're heading over to the Candy Kingdom. It's an emergency."

"What kind of emergency?"

"The princess didn't say but it sounded like it was really important."

"Ok. I'm coming."

Finn looked at Marceline and sighed.

"Look, Marcy. I'm heading over to the Candy Kingdom because it's my job as a hero. I need to protect everybody and if I don't then that's not very hero-like of me, is it?"

"Whatever."

"So what're you gonna do now?" Finn asked her

"I guess I'll crash back at my place."

"Can we talk about this later?" Finn said as he and Jake walked out the door

"Sure." Marceline said as she took a deep breath and flew outside the window and headed in the opposite direction.

Jake slid under Finn and stretched upward and started walking to the Candy Kingdom. As soon as they were a good distance away Jake spoke up,

"What was all that about?"

"I.. I don't feel like talking about it."

Jake caught the hint and kept his mouth shut. After a good while they spotted the Candy Kingdom. The entire kingdom's army was stationed outside the gates. Jake shrunk down as Finn hopped off of him.

"Whoa. What's goin' on, guys?" Finn asked as he walked towards them

None of the soldiers replied.

"Finn! Jake!" Peppermint Butler cried out as he ran to the gates and opened them. "Hurry! Princess Bubblegum has been waiting!"

The brothers dashed inside the gates and sprinted towards the castle.

* * *

><p>Marceline had been floating slowly towards her house. She didn't exactly know how to feel about the dream she had or how it was closely connected with her human friend. All she knew was that something big was going to happen. Her thoughts were interrupted as she spotted something off in the distance. She squinted her eyes and caught sight of a group of soldiers marching. Undead soldiers, and they were making their way to the Candy Kingdom.<p>

* * *

><p>"The Candy Kingdom is in danger and so are the other kingdoms. Finn, Jake, we need your help. The Lich has returned." Princess Bubblegum said loudly<p>

Peppermint Butler recited the information he had been given by Huntress Wizard. After he finished he looked directly into Finn's eyes.

"Finn.." Peppermint Butler called out to the hero

"What?"

"The Lich.. destroyed the Fire Kingdom.."

Finn's heart sank to into his stomach as his ears stopped listening to everything else. His breaths became ragged. Jake was right beside him trying to calm him down. Finn stood motionless as everyone in the room had rushed to him. He could hear a swirl of voices all around him but couldn't understand what they were saying. He ran out the room and jumped off the balcony. He landed on a nearby building and slid down the roof. He dropped on to the ground in a full sprint, never breaking his speed.

Marceline saw someone jump out of the Candy Kingdom's castle and slide down the nearby buildings. She let herself turn invisible and floated down to the ground. The person sped right past her at a extremely fast pace but she was able to catch a glance of who was running.

"Finn?" She said to herself

She flew to the human and picked him off the ground.

"Let me go." He said harshly

"Why're you running? Where are you going?" She asked concerningly

He quickly unwrapped her arms and let himself drop. She quickly caught him and faced him towards her

"Where are you going?"

"Marceline, let me go now!" He shouted at her

She could hear Jake coming from behind so she decided to give Finn his wish.

"Fine!" She yelled back at him as she let him go

He started falling but an orange bulldog stretched up and caught him on his back. Jake continued towards the Fire Kingdom at full speed.

"I'll get you there faster." Jake said firmly

Finn simply stayed silent. Marceline flew faster and caught up to Jake.

"Jake! What happened?" She asked

"The Lich is back!" He replied without looking at her

"What?! So what're we doing now?" She asked him

"He went through the Fire Kingdom.."

She instantly understood why Finn was so desperate to leave.

"I'll take him there." Marceline said as she floated closer to Finn and picked him up

"Okay." Jake said softly

Marceline raced past Jake with Finn in her arms as she made her way to the kingdom of flames. Jake turned around and headed back to the Candy Kingdom.

* * *

><p>After several minutes of flying, the Fire Kingdom came into view. Or what was left of it.<p>

"Can you drop me off?" Finn asked in a monotone voice

"I'll drop you off at the castle." Marceline replied

As they passed through the kingdom all they could see were the rubble of buildings and ash. Some Fire Elementals were walking around slowly, crying out for their loved ones. Screaming rang throughout the streets of the kingdom. Marceline couldn't help but feel pity for the people. They had no idea that the Lich was coming back. They were unprepared and they paid for it.

The front entrance to the castle came into view. Most of it was completely obliterated with dead guards littering the floor. Their bodies were completely grey and devoid of any life. Marceline let go of Finn and dropped him to the ground. Finn landed and ran into the castle.

He dashed through the remains of the hallways. Torn red banners laid on the floor along with many torn and burnt paintings. Finn felt his heart pumping as he reached the end of the hall. There was a single room with the door torn off the hinges. He knew exactly what room this was. It was the royal bedroom. He looked inside the room and instantly fell on his knees. Marceline came from behind and looked inside and placed her hand on her mouth.

Inside the room there was blood splattered all over the bed and the floor. Marceline floated up to Finn and tried pulling him away. A cracked crown rested on the floor. Finn broke away from Marceline and picked up the damaged crown.

"I'm so sorry, Finn."

Finn stood quietly as he stared at the crown.

Marceline walked up to him and looked into his eyes. She closed her eyes and hugged the human even tighter.

"Finn.." Marceline began, "The Lich is still alive. We need to stop him. So none of.. this.. will happen anywhere else." Marceline told him gently

Marceline could feel the heartbeat in the boy's chest. It was beating fast at first, but something odd started happening. His heartbeat was slowing down. She quickly picked his head up and saw that he had a blank expression on his face. His heart was now beating at a steady pace.

"Let's go." Finn said dully

* * *

><p>There was a great big open field in the Grasslands. The Candy Kingdom's army was marching down it. It was composed of Banana Guards and other delicious looking edibles. They all had fear etched on their faces. Princess Bubblegum was leading the entirety of the candy forces. As the candy soldiers marched on they caught sight of the Lich's undead army coming towards them. Jake looked over at the princess and saw that she had a determined look on her face.<p>

"Princess?" Jake called out to Princess Bubblegum

Her determined look quickly changed as she looked at Jake.

"Yes, Jake?"

"Aren't you worried about your Banana Guards? No offense or anything but they don't seem ready for battle."

"No, I'm not worried about them. When I first made the Banana Guards I made each one of them with a necessary voice activated password that only I can activate which lets them use their actual combat abilities and proper attributes in order to win any battle. There's a reason why I haven't lost any of the wars that the Candy Kingdom's been involved in."

Princess Bubblegum turned towards her soldiers and started talking to them.

"Everyone! We are about to go to battle with the Lich's army! We are not to fail if we wish to ensure life on this planet, on this land and with your families! Today decides if we continue living or if this is truly the end of life as we know it! That decision is in your hands!"

"Princess, I don't think pressuring them will work." Jake interrupted

"Just wait for it."

"Okay.." Jake said uneasily

"Tonight we fight for our lives, for your lives and.. _FOR THE KINGDOM!_"

Jake looked back at the soldiers. They looked calm and oddly prepared. They no longer had any facial expressions on their faces. They all stood like statues and waited for their princess to give them their next order. Then she yelled it into the air.

"CHAARRGGGE!"

Everyone started running towards the approaching army of the undead. Jake found himself running alongside them, screaming viciously. Jake looked down the field and saw a group of archers. They had their bows pulled back, waiting for the right moment to unleash the barrage of arrows unto the Candy soldiers. Jake was about to warn them but he was too late. He looked up in the air and saw a hail of arrows coming towards them. Jake watched as the arrows pierced a small group of Banana Guards. They started to scream as they arrows went through their bodies. Jake looked away and started charging towards the Lich's army but a voice stopped him.

"Jake!"

Jake stopped running and saw Marceline carrying a very calm Finn. Jake quickly ran back to his friend and brother.

"What happened?" Jake asked as Marceline and Finn landed on the ground

He got no reply. Finn simply pushed past him, sword in hand.

"What happened, Marceline?" Jake asked the Vampire Queen

"We were too late."

"She's.."

"She's gone."

They watched as the sixteen year old human dragged his sword across the grass and made his way to the battlefield slowly.

_**Author's Note: I'm extremely sorry for the long wait! I had helped write some stuff for another person and got burnt out. I had also made another story, it's called The Worst Guys and if you wanna check that out go click on my profile. There's also a poll on my profile. I'm just curious to see what people ship in Adventure Time. Once again, i'm so sorry. But at least **__**I managed to make this though, so that's something! For now I'm going to focus on this story more. **__**If you have any thoughts please let me know in the reviews!**_

_**Thanks for reading and reviewing (assuming that you did)**_

_**This chapter is brought to you with love from me.**_

_**-Samuel The Racounteur**_


	11. Shadows

"_I really appreciate what you've done for the Fire Kingdom, Finn." Flame King thanked the young hero_

_"Anything for you, milady." Finn said happily_

_She slightly blushed, her cheeks darkening in color._

_"So.." She said, slowly trailing off her sentence_

_Finn noticed that she seemed nervous about something, but he just brushed it off as the stress from her kingly duties._

_"How's the king biz going for you?" He asked, nervously trying to break the staleness of yet another awkward goodbye_

_"It's.. something. It's not the most interesting thing to do, but I like helping my people."_

_"Yeah. That's pretty cool."_

_A silence overtook the conversation. They both stood there trying to think of something to say. The seconds went by as they looked everywhere but each other. Flame King finally broke the silence. _

_"So I guess I'll see you later, Finn."_

_"Yeah. See ya"_

_Finn was about to walk away but stopped himself and asked,_

_"Why can't we get back together?"_

_Flame King looked at the boy. She wanted to tell him that she still wanted him. That she wanted what they had. But she knew that things would never be the same._

_"Because Finn, we just.. can't. I have a kingdom to rule over and you have your hero duties."_

_"I can make time for you!" Finn said as he started walking towards her_

_"Finn, please..." She pleaded_

_He was now standing in front of her. Finn stared deeply into her eyes. Flame King looked away from him._

_"Can't we at least try again?" He pleaded_

_Finn reached his hand up and grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers. Flame King could feel herself melting into her deeply buried feelings for the human. She brought herself closer to Finn and looked deeply into his eyes. Finn brought his mouth to her's and kissed her. _

_He felt an intense burning sensation against his skin as his flame shield started wearing off, but continued nonetheless._

_She pulled him closer and intensified the kiss, causing her to moan slightly. All of her emotions were running rampant inside her. Longing, sadness, frustration and confusion._

_She thought she wanted this, so what was the problem? _

_The problem was that she had a kingdom to run. She didn't have time for a relationship, and even if she did,_ _her royal_ _advisors would rather appoint her a suitor which they deemed fit for her solely based on looks and social status rather than some lowly human boy. If she weren't to comply with it, she could very well lose her position as king and she wasn't ready for that. She wasn't willing on taking the risks of losing her kingdom for him. Not anymore._

_She broke away from the kiss and let go of Finn's hand. Finn opened his eyes and saw Flame King walking away from him._

_"I'm sorry, Finn. We.. we can't do this."_

_She had streaks of lava trailing down her face. Finn walked to her and hugged her from behind. He tightly gripped on to her and began shaking. Flame King could feel her knees giving out as she cried alongside the boy. She softly escaped Finn's embrace and looked him in the eyes._

_"Can we just.." Finn said as he hugged her again, "Stay like this a little longer?"_

_Flame King wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him tightly._

_"Okay.."_

* * *

><p>A skeleton approached the young boy, swinging around a battle axe wildly. Finn easily dodged each swing and swiped the skeleton's skull clean off. The skull landed with a thump on to the grass. Finn continued walking to the center of the battlefield. Several newly dead creatures ran towards him. Their skin peeling and limbs dangling. Finn held his sword steadily and stabbed a single zombie right through his head, piercing it's brain and killing it instantly.<p>

Thunder claps boomed in the sky as lightning struck fiercely. Rain started dripping from the sky and on to the hero's hat. He reached up for it and pulled it off.

Marceline was fighting a horde of skeletons with her axe-bass while keeping an eye on her friend. That's when she saw him take off his bear hat for the first time.

And honestly, despite the circumstances, he looked handsome.

Finn's golden blonde hair fell to his shoulders as he walked on. A look of emptiness was plastered on his face. Nothing was on his mind and his mind was nowhere. He just kept moving. Several undead creatures surrounded the human. The boy brought his blade down into the collarbone of a nearby zombie. The blade pierced it's skin and a sickening crunch filled Finn's ears as the blade went through the bone. Dark black blood started flowing from the entry point. Finn tried pulling the sword out but it remained budged within the lifeless creature. So he kicked the zombie to the ground and stomped it's brains in. Blood and brain matter splattered on to the human's leg with each stomp as the zombie's head turned into mush. Finn got in a fighting stance as he brought up his fists and scanned the area around him. A zombie nearby charged him with it's dirty hands. Finn brought his fist back and sent it straight into the creature's eye socket. A skeleton wielding a sword came up to the human and swung it's sword. Finn brought the zombie (the one he had punched) in front of him and let the sword hit the flesh of the creature. More blood came out into the open. Finn placed his foot on the dead zombie and kicked it. The zombie flew and crashed into the ground.

The iron smell of blood filled the air as Finn stood still. The rain washing some of the blood off his body. Finn picked up a sword from the ground and proceeded in decapitating the rest of the surrounding soldiers. He swung his sword with an intensive amount of finesse. He danced around the soldiers as his blade cut through them like a hot knife through butter. He stabbed an undead goblin in it's stomach and savagely gutted the poor fool. He then removed his sword and cut the goblin's head in two.

* * *

><p>Marceline looked over in Finn's direction and saw that he was bloody and surrounded by several undead soldiers. When she focused on the human closely she saw that his eyes were red and puffy.<p>

He was crying.

* * *

><p>Finn felt himself falling apart. The pain was too much. It hurt the poor boy's heart too much. An empty pit of nothingness formed within the boy and swallowed him whole. Never again would he see her smile again. He would never feel her warmth or comfort anymore. The girl he loved was gone and would never come back.<p>

Finn fell to his knees and screamed into the air.

Then he was surrounded by nothingness.

* * *

><p><em>"Is something wrong?" Flame King asked him softly<em>

_His vision came back to him._

_"No, everything's fine." He replied_

_Finn looked around and saw that he was in the royal bedroom of the Fire Kingdom. He was standing up and Flame King was sitting on her bed. Finn had his hat in his hands. He was about to put it back on but noticed something odd. The ears were longer than usual. _

_Something was going on._

_Finn walked up to her._

_"Are you the real Flame King?" He asked_

_Flame King had a puzzled expression on her face._

_"I'm pretty sure I'm the real Flame King, Finn."_

_"No. You're not."_

_"Yes I am. Finn, what's wrong with you?"_

_"The Lich.. he killed you.."_

_"But I'm right here!"_

_Finn looked at her directly._

_"I wish you were."_

_There was an everlasting silence. A small gust of wind blew into the room. Flame King's form was disintegrating slowly. _

_"Finn, what's happening?!" She said shakily_

_"I'm sorry for not being there for you." Finn spoke solemnly_

_"Finn, help me!" She cried out_

_"I'm sorry for not being a better boyfriend."_

_"Finn!"_

_"I couldn't save you, Flame Princess.. I'm so sorry. I hope you never forgive me.."_

_The rest of her body vanished along with the wind._

* * *

><p>Finn looked up at Samuel.<p>

"Do you still miss her?" Samuel asked him

"Yeah.. I'd do anything to bring her back."

Samuel scribbled down on a notepad he was holding.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you still love her?"

Finn didn't know the answer to that question. It's been a little over three years since he last saw her and he still missed her like crazy.

Then his mind showed him his memories of Marceline. The times they spent together and their conversations. Finn unconsciously smiled as he lost himself within his mental scrapbook.

"Finn?" Samuel's voice broke through to him

"Huh?"

"Was that question too personal? I know it's none of my business, but I just hope you aren't using that poor girl Marceline. She's been through too much for you to just use her."

"I'm not using her I can tell you that."

"Okay. I apologize if I rubbed you in the wrong way."

"It's fine."

Samuel wrote down some more notes and closed his notepad.

"Finn, it appears we've reached the end of our first session. It was a real pleasure meeting you." Samuel said as he stood up from his chair. "We made some good progress here today. I hope to see you next time, friend."

"When's that?" Finn asked

"Next week. Same time."

And with that, Samuel walked away. Finn looked out the window and saw that the sun was high up in the sky. It was probably around five in the afternoon. Finn climbed up his ladder and threw himself on his bed and close his eyes.

The whole session took an enormous emotional toll on the human and it left him quite tired.

Within a few minutes he went out like a light.

* * *

><p>Several hours had passed, changing the bright, luscious landscape into a nighttime beauty.<p>

Finn woke up from a shuffling noise right beside him. He looked and saw Marceline laying down right next to him.

"Look Marcy, I'm really sorry that I didn't call you. I-" He started

"It's okay, Finn." She said as she placed her index finger on his lips

Finn quickly stopped talking. They looked into each other's eyes and grinned. Finn wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"So what'd you do today?" Marceline asked him

"I.. uh.. It's kinda uh.."

Marceline gave him a look.

"If you don't wanna tell me Finn, that's cool. I get it." She said with a hurt expression on her face

"It's not like that. Look it's.. I was talking to my psychiatrist."

"Psychiatrist?"

"Yeah. I was assigned one by Princess Bubblegum."

"I don't remember her saying anything about a psychiatrist." Marceline said as she sat up on the bed

"Wait, what?"

"When you were in the psychiatric ward, me and Bonnie talked about your living conditions there and nobody said anything about a psychiatrist."

"That's weird." Finn said lowly. "Maybe it was a last minute decision that she made?"

"She would've told me. Well.. at least I thought she would."

"Marceline, look it's fine. Honestly I think PB made a good choice this time. I feel like the therapy might be working."

Marceline looked at him with an unsure expression

"Are you sure Finn?"

"Yeah. It's cool."

Marceline laid back down on the bed right next to him. He kissed the top of her head gently. The rest of the night was filled with a comfortable, peaceful silence.

Finn dreamt of nothingness for most of the night.

* * *

><p>Finn slowly opened his eyes. The darkness of the room told him that it was still dark out. But he didn't care.<p>

He felt quite different as he rose up from his bed. He felt.. blissful, careless even. A weird sense of emotional euphoria ran through him as he walked out of the room. He just felt unusually good. Darkness clouded his vision but he navigated through the house with no problem.

An odd sense of energy flowed through him as he made his way downstairs. There was music playing. A slow beat played as a man sung in a mesmerizing tone.

When he reached his living room he stopped walking and stood there in complete silence. He looked all around him and saw shadows in the room. They were dancing around the walls and rooms.

He was unable to look away. The shadows around him just kept dancing. One shadow approached Finn and offered him it's hand. He was hesitant at first but eventually took it's hand and started dancing with them.

Finn swung his arms over his head and started leaning his body forward. A cool breeze blew into the living room as he danced, cooling his skin down to the bone.

The young human smiled.

The shadows gathered around and danced with him. Then suddenly they all vanished. Finn suddenly stopped feeling anything. He was numb. He looked around in the darkness and found that he was all alone. He didn't want to be alone. He wanted to dance more and feel good again. He didn't want to worry about anything. He stood once again in silence. His heart was the only thing he could hear as it beat in his chest.

He slowly made his way back to his room. When he got there he cuddled up next to a sleeping Marceline and quickly fell asleep.

What he didn't know was that Marceline had saw the entire thing. She had been awake the whole time.

* * *

><p><em><strong>This chapter, well the later part of it, was inspired by a song I heard called, III. Urn by Childish Gambino. <strong>__**The song is very.. dreamlike. Which fits into the dance sequence Finn has with the shadows perfectly. If you listen to it, you'll get what I'm saying.**_

_**The next chapter or so should go back to the battle with the Lich's army. **_

_**Now, the shadow dancing sequence. You might be wondering what that was. I could just let you wait until the next chapter to find out but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Finn has some mental health problems in the later part of the story when he's 19. The shadows are apart of that. They were a hallucination. And Marceline saw him dancing with them. **_

_**Anyways, throughout the story memories, dreams, hallucinations and therapy are going to be a major tone.**_

_**I'd like to thank anybody who's taken the time to read this story! Major shoutouts to The Nephilim King Michael, Mr. Nono, He23t and that very nice anonymous user(s). **__**Thank you! You all are very nice people and I like that. **_

_**All you other readers are cool too because you at least read the story and I thank you for that.**_

_**-Samuel The Raconteur**_


	12. Death of a Hero

"Where are you, human?!" A maniacal voice yelled out

Finn was hiding behind a rock with his tattered clothing barely hanging on to him. He was hyperventilating harshly. He was going to have to face him sooner or later and one of them was going to die. Finn didn't want to kill anybody. He never had and he didn't want to anytime soon.

"Stop hiding! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

_'This guy's crazy. Why does he want to kill me? I didn't even do anything to him!'_

Finn held a sharpened stick in his hand that was sharp enough to pierce flesh. Finn had spent several days out here in the wilderness fleeing from the hunter. The cold, frigid nights alone in these woods were still imprinted in the young boy's mind. What was even worse was that this guy was toying with him. Finn was his prey and the hunter was.. well the hunter.

There was a quietness throughout the forest as Finn hid behind the rock. It was like this for several minutes.

'_Maybe he finally gave up._' Finn thought to himself

Finn let out an exhale of breath and relaxed his body. He looked up at the surrounding trees and smiled. He was finally gone. Finn let go of his weapon and let his head lean on the rock.

"Found you." The hunter's voice whispered into his ear

* * *

><p>Finn woke up sweating and breathing harshly.<p>

'**Having nightmares again, are we?**' The voice in Finn's head asked him jokingly

"Shut up, man." He told it

'**Looks like someone needs a hug.**'

"Shut the hell up." Finn whispered to himself

'**Calm down. Jeez, I was just trying to lighten up the mood a little. It ain't easy you know, living with you.**'

"You could always leave me alone."

**'But it gets so boring when I do.**'

"I don't care."

'**Not like you ever do.**'

Finn got out of his bed and walked on downstairs. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and a box of cereal. He opened up his fridge and grabbed a carton of milk. He then poured the cereal into the bowl and then the milk. He picked up a spoon and walked with his bowl of cereal to his table.

He placed his bowl of cereal on to the table and sat down and started eating. He looked out the window and began watching the sunrise.

"Hey, Finn." Marceline greeted him as she floated downstairs

"Hey." He replied

"Can I talk to you?" She asked him

"Yeah."

Marceline sat down right next to him. (In mid-air of course) The sun outside was still rising, leaving the sky a bright pink.

"Finn, I was wondering if maybe, you'd want to talk about something with me."

"Like what?"

"Last night."

Finn dropped his spoon into his bowl and swallowed his food.

"What about last night?" He asked

"I know what happened."

Finn started to feel uneasy. His stomach started to turn and his palms started to get clammy.

"You saw that."

"What was that all about?"

Finn propped his elbows on the table on placed his hands on his head.

"I.. I don't know. I just woke up and started dancing. I don't know why. Then there was all these.. things dancing with me and somebody was singing and it was so.. beautiful."

"Finn, what are you talking about? Nobody else was here. It was just you."

"What? No! There were other things here."

"It was just you."

"Not again." Finn groaned lowly as he closed his eyes

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's just.. I never really got used to being like this, you know? Being different and all."

"It's okay if you're different."

"No, it isn't. Everyone treats me differently. I just want to be normal again. Not some burden that you and Bonnie have to worry about."

Finn stood up from his chair and wandered to the windowsill.

"I hate making you worry about me, Marceline."

Marceline floated behind him and hugged him from behind.

"Shut up." Marceline told him firmly

"Huh?"

"I care about you, Finn. A lot. And just because you're having some trouble with yourself doesn't mean that I'm just gonna leave you. I.. I don't want to leave you, Finn. I want to help you."

Finn unwrapped her arms and faced her.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Finn pressed his lips against her's and embraced her tightly. For the first time since he got back, he felt like he had truly came back home.

* * *

><p>The rest of the week had passed by peacefully and now it was time for Finn's second session with Samuel, but he wasn't sure that if he wanted to continue with the sessions or not.<p>

Finn was awoken by a knock on his door. He made his way out of his bed and opened the front door. Samuel stood in front of him. He chuckled a little and waved at the human.

"Hello, Finn. May I come in?"

"Sure."

Samuel stepped inside and walked over to Finn's couch and plopped down on to it.

"Are you ready to continue from where we left off?"

"Wait, we're just gonna jump right back in?"

"No sense in beating around the bush, right?"

"Right. Do you mind if I ask a question?"

"Okay, what is it?"

"Are you really a therapist? Because nobody seems to know who you are or why you're here."

"I am a therapist. I assure you that."

"That sounds so.."

"Suspicious? Yes, I know, but I promise you that I'm only here to help you."

"How can I trust you?"

"That's for you to figure out, Finn. I can't make you choose to trust me or not."

"I don't think I can trust you if I know absolutely nothing about you."

"And why is that, Finn? I've already told you who I am."

"Anybody can say they're something they're not."

"But you were so willing to coöperate with me in the previous session."

"I know but.."

"Are you only going to talk to me when I'm convenient for you?"

"No."

"I already told you that Princess Bubblegum assigned me to you and that I'm only here to help you. What else do you want me to say?"

"Why does no one know who you are?"

"Because I'm somebody that only Princess Bubblegum is aware of. My presence was meant to be kept a secret to everyone.

"Well Marceline went to go visit her dad and she won't be back until tomorrow so we should have more than enough time to do this session."

"Great! So where were we when we left off?"

Finn sat down on the couch and took a deep breath.

* * *

><p><em>Three years ago..<em>

Finn opened his eyes and found himself in a cave. Everything was dark around him. He had several gashes across his torso. They were leaking out his blood.

_Plip.. plop.. plip.. plop._

He felt extremely fatigued and sore. He started to regain his breath slowly but surely. Then a voice spoke out to him.

"_Finn the human. I've been waiting for you._"

A tall robed figure appeared from within the darkness. His green irises burning deeply into Finn's blue ones. It was the Lich. Hatred burned deep within the boy as he looked at the necromancer. Finn could hear a voice inside his head whispering to him.

"_**Kill him, Finn.**_"

The Lich conjured a green flame within his hand and threw it at Finn, hitting him directly in his chest. Finn flew back and hit the cave wall and slid down. The sizzle of burnt flesh filled his nostrils. Finn looked down at his chest and saw his shirt had a hole in it. Inside the hole, his upper torso had severe third degrees. The outer layer of his skin was gone. The pain shook his body down to his core but he got on his feet regardless.

"_Foolish boy._"

Finn raised his sword and ran directly towards the Lich. He was about to strike but was yanked back by an orange furry hand.

"Finn, you need to calm down!" His brother's voice shouted at him

Finn looked and saw his brother Jake holding him back.

"Let me go!" Finn screamed at him

"He's right, Finn. You need to calm down." Marceline told him as she landed right next to him

They all retreated back several yards with an absolutely infuriated Finn in tow. Marceline held her axe-bass tightly in her grip as she looked at the Lich. Finn was kicking and struggling within his brother's grip.

"_The king of flames was not even a worthy adversary to me. She lived and died pitifully._**"** The Lich cackled

That set the human boy off. Something inside him snapped. Finn struggled with all his strength and managed to escape his brother's grip. He quickly sprinted towards the Lich and threw a punch. The hit connected, causing the Lich's skull to crack. The Lich stumbled back but was laughing maniacally. What Finn didn't know was that this very being lived off of war and hatred. Even if Finn defeated him, the Lich would live on in his heart as he would consume it with grief and rage.

"Finn, get away! " Marceline yelled at him

Finn continued his assault by throwing even more punches at the necromancer. The Lich then grabbed his right arm and slammed him into the ground. Marceline flew towards the Lich and kicked him in the chest. The Lich was sent flying across the cave. Finn brought himself off the ground and ran towards the direction that the Lich flew. Marceline grabbed the human before he could get any further. The human growled as he was brought back to Jake.

Jake turned the boy towards him and began speaking to him directly.

"Finn, listen to me. Think! Think of a plan! How did you defeat the Lich the last time?"

Those words burrowed themselves deep into Finn's mind, bypassing his rage and irrationality. The last time he defeated the Lich was by using the power of liking someone a lot. He had used the sweater that Princess Bubblegum had made him, but now he didn't really like anyone and the only person he did like a lot was gone. So what chance did he have now?

Finn's breathing began to slow down as he calmed down.

The orange dog let go of his brother. A green fireball came flying towards them quite quickly. Finn swung his sword and deflected the attack. The green flame bounced back and hit the Lich in his face. The Lich yelled out in pain as the flame made contact. Jake cheered loudly and pumped his fist into the air. Jake stretched his way over to the Lich and punched him in the gut. Marceline and Finn quickly charged at him as well. Finn swung his sword and sliced the Lich's right arm off, causing him to yell out in pain. Marceline sliced at the Lich as well but he dodged the swing and wrapped his hand around her leg and threw her into the wall of the cave. A wave of dust blew over as she went through the wall. When the dust cleared, there was only pile of rubble where she was. Finn charged at him again but the Lich punched him in the face, causing him to crash into the ground. The Lich then picked up Finn and kicked his kneecap in. A loud cracking noise rang out as Finn cried out in pain.

The Lich picked him up and tossed him away. Jake then stretched himself around the Lich and began to squeeze him tightly. The Lich then ignited himself on fire causing Jake to leap back as the flames touched his fur.

The Lich then grabbed Jake by his leg and slammed him into the earth. Jake yelled out in pain as blood escaped his mouth while the Lich continued to slam him into the ground. Each slam harder than the last.

Finn managed to regain his senses as he opened his eyes. When he did all he saw was the Lich slamming his brother to the ground.

The Lich threw Jake to the ground and conjured a massive green flame in the palm of his hand. Jake writhed around in pain as the Lich walked closer to him.

"Jake, get up! Get up now!" Finn yelled out to him

"_Burn."_

The Lich threw the sickly green fireball at Jake. Jake's fur instantly ignited, causing Jake to scream out in pain. Jake's fur was burning off and his flesh was melting.

"**NO!"** Finn screamed

Finn then pulled himself up and limped his way towards his burning brother. The Lich snapped his fingers and the flame consuming Jake disappeared. Jake was still screaming his lungs out. Finn was nearing towards the Lich but fell as his leg made more sickening cracking noises.

"AUGGHHHAHAAA!"

The Lich picked up Jake and slammed him down on his back with all his strength. A loud snap echoed throughout the cave.

"No..." Finn said to himself

Finn tried getting up but his broken knee wouldn't allow him to. He then started crawling toward the lifeless body of his brother.

The pain was indescribable to him. Tears were leaking from his eyes as he approached his brother. He shook his body a little.

"Jake.."

He shook him again.

"Jake.. buddy.."

He shook him a bit more roughly.

"Jake answer me.. please." He pleaded desperately

He began to shake his body more roughly and quickly.

"C'mon Jake, you gotta wake up.. please." Finn said softly as his voice cracked

Jake's body remained cold and still. He was gone.

The one who was always there for him, comforted him, helped him and loved him was gone.

He stood himself up and ignored the pain of his broken knee. He slowly limped over towards the Lich, hatred burning deeply in his eyes.

Finn approached him and swung his sword with all his might but the Lich caught it with his one remaining arm.

"_You are a weak, foolish boy._"

He then squeezed the blade, causing it to shatter into pieces. Finn let go off the broken sword and threw a fist at him. The Lich caught his arm and began to stare within the human's eyes. Everything around them faded to black as the Lich began to speak.

"_I know you hate me, boy. I want you to. I want this day to haunt you for the rest of your life._"

"You killed them!" Finn screamed into his face

"_And I shall kill you too._"

Finn growled loudly as the veins in his face began to show clearly

"_Have you ever heard the phrase "An eye for an eye"? Because I believe in that phrase and you should too._"

As he finished his sentence a loud flesh-ripping sound filled the human's ears. Silence filled the cave as the human fell backwards. An unbelievable amount of searing, mind-numbing pain filled the right side of his body. He looked over and saw that his right arm was missing from its socket. Blood was gushing out of the tear and splattering on to the ground.

He hit the ground with a loud thump and looked at the ceiling of the cave. The Lich walked over to his body and picked up a shard of his broken sword. He then slammed the shard into his chest and stared at him. Finn's breathing came to a halt. A coldness quickly filled his body as he stared up into the ceiling. Then his heart stopped beating.

* * *

><p>They say that before you die, you see your life flash before your eyes, but he didn't see any of that. The only thing he saw was the ceiling of the cave fade away from his vision and the feeling of regret and grief consume him.<p>

Then there was nothingness.

* * *

><p><strong>I feel so cruel. So very cruel. I know Jake didn't deserve to die. Hate me all you want but the show must go on. <strong>

**Thank you for reading and please leave a review.**

**-Samuel**


	13. Connector

Marceline could hear somebody crying. She knew who it was but why was she? What happened? She remembered that she was helping Finn and Jake fight the Lich but that's it. She needed to find out what happened so she opened her eyes. She looked around but was only met with darkness. Then she remembered that she was trapped underneath some rubble. She tried moving her arms but noticed that her left one was pinned. She began to squirm around, causing her arm to get loose. She then began moving the chunks of rock out of the way. Soon enough, light began pouring in from the cracks. Then her arm emerged from the pile of rocks and she began to pull herself out.

When she climbed out of the pile of rocks, the scent of burnt flesh and blood filled the air around her. The source of the cries were coming from Princess Bubblegum who was across the cave at the other side. She floated over to her slowly. Princess Bubblegum got up and faced Marceline. She then ran to her and hugged her tightly. She began to sob on to Marceline's shoulder and hiccup. What happened?

"I'm glad that you're okay, Marceline.." She told her

"So why are you crying?"

Princess Bubblegum looked at her and let her go. Tears were falling from her eyes.

"Finn and Jake.. they're gone."

Marceline's eyes widened.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

Princess Bubblegum didn't reply but just shook her head. Marceline simply stayed silent. She was never one to express her emotions in public but tears began to come out of her eyes as well. She didn't expect one of her best friend's lives to end so abruptly. She floated past Bonnie and saw the scene laid out before her.

Jake was severely burnt and had several gashes across his body. His eyes were closed and his body looked like it had been through hell itself. She gagged as she stared at his body. The stench of burnt flesh was almost too much to bear for her. She floated closer to Jake and sighed. Jake didn't deserve this. She still couldn't believe that she was looking at the corpse of one of her friends. Princess Bubblegum approached Marceline from behind. She was still sniffling a little.

"I still don't know how I'm gonna tell Lady." She said softly

Marceline's heart sunk. How were they going to tell Lady? More importantly, his kids.

Marceline floated further down and nearly collapsed on to her knees. Tears came down her eyes and she could feel her body become weak. She was looking at Finn. He was laying on his back with his eyes open. His right arm was missing and he was surrounded by his own blood. She looked at him and noticed that there were trails of tears on his cheeks. His knee was broken and there was a shard of his sword sticking out of his chest. She began hiccuping as small sobs escaped her lips. Her best friend was gone.

Princess Bubblegum only ever saw Marceline cry a few times but this time it seemed different. She seemed lost, broken. Like all the years of her pain came out with her tears. As she looked at Finn's lifeless corpse she walked to Marceline and simply hugged her. It was all she could think of. Marceline put her head on her shoulder and cried even more.

* * *

><p>Coldness. He couldn't see or feel anything but he knew that he was there, but what exactly <em>was<em> there? He doesn't know what he was doing here or if he was even doing anything. It was just nothingness. They always told him that when he reached the afterlife that he would be sent to one of Death's dead worlds. But where was it? It definitely wasn't here. Everything here was nonexistent and so was he. A figure then appeared before him. It was Death.

"What are you doing, boy?"

"Huh?"

"You've died twice already."

"So why don't you take me already?"

"Because certain things that forbids it. There are things you need to do."

"Just take me."

"No. I will not grant you the easy way out. You knew what you were getting into. You knew that there would be no easy way out ever."

"Is the Lich still alive?" He asked

"Yes. He's in the Badlands rebuilding his army."

"Send me back then. I'll fight him until I turn to dust."

"Ok, but remember this. You need to use the power of love to defeat him."

"The one I loved is gone."

"The ones you truly love are right by your side." Death said as an orb appeared in his hand

The orb showed a crying Marceline and Princess Bubblegum next to his body. Finn looked at Death and asked him,

"Where is my brother? Why isn't he going back with me?"

"This task only requires one of you. We offered your brother the same opportunity but he refused. He said that you were only capable of defeating the Lich and that you still had a whole life in front of you."

"Can I see him?"

"I'm afraid not. You are in the void, a state of neither life nor death. Your brother is already in the dead world. The only way you could see him is if you died too."

"Why?" Finn cried out

"Why what?" Death asked

"Why did the Cosmic Owl let my brother die?!"

A white light filled the void. The light slowly disappeared and revealed a woman with long white hair that fell to her neck. She was dressed all in white and had dark green eyes.

"The Cosmic Owl did not have any power over that. Your brother was not supposed to die. Not in this timeline." She told the distressed human

"Who are you? What do you mean the Cosmic Owl had no power over it?" Finn asked her

"My name is Aurora. I am the guardian of the multiverse. You've heard of the multi-verse, have you not?" She asked him

"The Enchiridion showed me something like that." Finn replied as he stood up

Aurora waved her hands into the air and conjured up an image of the universe. Then another universe appeared and then another. They kept on expanding across the empty space they were in. Then different images of the human appeared. One showed him playing Card Wars with the Ice King in the Ice Kingdom as Marceline played with Bmo in the background. Another showed Finn singing at a concert. The crowds eyes were all planted on him as he sung and played his guitar. Another visual showed Finn talking to a pale boy with long black hair and eating pizza. Aurora closed these visuals and continued talking.

"You are apart of the multiverse. An infinite amount of parallel universes. Each similar and different in their own way. And since there are different universes, there are different but yet similar Enchiridions. One for each universe. Someone in one of the universes got a hold of it and is now leaping between universes causing chaos and merging universes together, disturbing the balance. Your alternate counterpart is pursuing this individual but was not quick enough to stop him from traveling to Prismo's time room."

Aurora showed another visual to him. It showed a man in a black cloak leaping through portals as a much older Finn chased him. By the looks of it, the alternate Finn looked to be about thirty years old. They both landed in Prismo's time room. The cloaked figure summoned another portal and let the Lich pass through it. The thirty year old Finn tried grabbing the Lich but was pulled back by the cloaked figure and was forced to watch the Lich disappear after going through the portal. The visual in the space around them disappeared.

"It was there that the individual released the Lich back into your universe. That is how he appeared in your universe once again. The person who released the Lich killed you and your brother in your timeline. The original way it was supposed to be in your timeline was that you and your brother were supposed to live out the rest of your lives in peace. That timeline still exists but it has branched out because of the Lich's return and now you are not apart of the original timeline. A different but similar version of you is apart of that timeline. You are stuck with this timeline now. I'm sorry."

Finn's eyes were dripping with tears. He fell down to his knees and yelled out into the void around them.

"Nothing you can do can reverse these events." Aurora told the boy

Finn began wiping his eyes and stared into the abyss below. He was going to have to accept his brother's death whether he like it or not. But nobody said anything about not avenging him. So that was what he was going to do.

"Tell me what I have to do."

"All you have to do is save your own timeline. The much more bigger problem lies with your other counterpart."

She leaned down to the boy and hugged him.

"I know that this must be difficult for you, but everything in your universe is going to die if you do nothing but weep here. You need to go back."

"Okay."

Finn stood up and sighed. Everything around him then vanished into darkness.

"The fate of your universe lies in your hands. Good luck, Finn." Aurora's voice echoed through the darkness

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><p><strong>The multiverse is such a fascinating thing. When Aurora shows Finn the different universes, those are scenes from my other stories. The scene with Ice King and Finn playing Card Wars is from my story <em>After Death<em>.**

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><p><strong>The scene that shows Finn performing at the concert is from my other story <em>Newly Blossomed<em>. (THE NAME FOR THIS STORY HAS BEEN CHANGED! It is now called_ Everything is Beautiful_)**

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><p><strong>The one showing Finn eating pizza with the black haired boy is a scene from my other story, <em>Brothers<em>.**

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><p><strong>As for the thirty year old Finn and the cloaked dimension leaper, there will probably be a story just for them too. It'll probably be a long one too. But I need to finish the stories I have out first. <strong>In other news another new story will be released from me sometime in the next two weeks or so.<strong>**

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><p><strong>Thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed, favorited, followed and read this story! You all give me the inspiration to write. <strong>

_Please review! Thank you!_

**-Samuel**


	14. Red (Interlude 2)

Aurora stood up and faced Death.

"I never thought you'd be so nice to the kid." Death told her

"The boy just lost his brother, Death. He needed some form of reassurance and you sure as hell weren't giving him any."

"That's because I don't deal with the quarreling of mortals."

"And yet you have no problem taking their souls."

"That's because it's my job to."

"To hell with your job! You can show a little compassion every once in a while."

Before the arguing could proceed any further a portal opened before them and a figure came out. The man was about six feet tall and had short blonde hair and many scars across his face. His illustrious blue eyes looked all around the void before resuming his attention back to Aurora and Death.

"Finn, what happened?" Aurora asked the man as he walked up to her

"Wolf got away. I lost him. I'm sorry." The older Finn said as he sighed

"Now is not the time for apologies. I have a different assignment for you, Finn."

"What is it?" He asked

"It requires you to enter another universe."

"Which one?" He asked

She conjured up an image that showed Princess Bubblegum and Marceline sitting next to a lifeless version of himself in a cave. He was much younger in that universe.

"Why do you need me there?"

"It's not me that needs you, but it is them." She said as she looked at Marceline and Princess Bubblegum

Finn scratched his head and looked at her nervously.

"I guess I could go."

"That specific universe is in grave danger, Finn. Your counterpart in that universe witnessed the murder of your adoptive brother Jake right before his very eyes. He could not save him nor the king of flames. He is hellbent on killing the person responsible but that's where the problem arises. The one who killed Jake and Flame King as well as countless others is none other than the Lich that escaped Prismo's time room."

Death stared at the visual in the air around them that showed the alternate Finn.

"This is my fault." Finn said

"That Finn shown on the screen is not ready for the Lich. You need to help him prepare so that he will be."

"So you're saying I should train him?"

"Yes."

Finn rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"When do I go?" He asked

* * *

><p>Desperate sobbing and cold air surrounded him. His vision then suddenly came back to him. His irises expanded as he looked up at the ceiling. He could feel the cold drafts of air drift across his skin and his wounds. He began breathing harshly.<p>

Marceline looked over at Finn's body and saw his chest rising roughly.

"Finn!" She cried out as she flew to his body

He was unresponsive to her. His eyes began flickering in all directions as his breathing increased. Princess Bubblegum began to inspect him and gasped.

"His body's going into shock. He needs medical attention now!" She yelled to the Banana Guards with her in the cave

Finn couldn't hear that much of anything but knew that something was wrong. His body wouldn't stop shaking and jerking around and he couldn't focus on anything. The pain in the right side of his body was blinding him from any rational thoughts. Then everything went dark.

* * *

><p>The sun shined directly into the room and into Finn's eyes. Finn groaned and brought himself off the bed. He heard a slight metallic creaking as he moved around making him jump in surprise. He looked over to his shoulder and saw a metal arm protruding out of his shoulder. It was red and looked well made. There were metallic joints that made up the elbow, wrist and his shoulder. He got off the bed and walked to a nearby window. The sky was still a sickly green and nobody was to be seen in the streets of the Candy Kingdom. Finn sighed deeply and made his way out of the room. As he walked down the halls he heard numerous gasps and whispers. Finn simply pushed away the voices and made his way out of the hospital. He walked through the waiting room of the hospital and saw Marceline talking to the nurse at the front desk. He just kept limping his way through the room. The nurse at the front desk gasped and rushed over to Finn's side.<p>

"Mr. Finn, you shouldn't be up and around. You need to go back to your room and rest." The nurse said

Marceline turned around and saw her human friend standing still. She flew over to him and picked him up. She then flew over to Finn's hospital room. He didn't struggle or say anything. He just remained silent. Marceline placed him back on to his bed. Finn simply sat down and stared at her. After a while Marceline finally mustered up enough courage to say something.

"How're you feeling?" She asked him

Finn sat there in silence and moved his metal arm around. Only the creaking of his arm filled the unbearable silence.

"I feel better." Finn spoke calmly

Marceline felt a shiver go down her spine. He couldn't have possibly been fine. He'd lost two of the most important people in his life in less than two hours. There was no way he was alright. Finn then stood up slowly and yawned.

"Finn, you don't have to pretend that you're fine." Marceline told him

"I know, but the Lich is still alive so I need to go back out there." Finn said in a monotone voice as he made his way to the door.

Marceline quickly blocked his pathway. Finn looked at her and kept walking. He then bumped into her.

"Can you please move?" Finn asked her

"You know I can't do that." Marceline replied

Finn tried moving past her but she didn't budge. Finn tried harder to push past her but simply couldn't.

"Finn.." Marceline said softly

"Let me go." Finn told her

"Stop. You're going to get yourself killed." She told him

"I don't care!"

"But I do!" She yelled at him

Finn stopped moving and looked at the floor. Marceline went up to him and hugged him tightly. Finn stood there awkwardly as he continued to stare at the floor. Running could be heard as they embraced each other and soon enough another person joined their hug. Marceline looked over and saw that it was Princess Bubblegum. She had her face buried into Finn's shirt. Finn looked behind Princess Bubblegum and saw a person standing in the doorway.

"Who are you?" Finn asked the man as he broke out of the embrace

Marceline and Princess Bubblegum turned around and looked at him. The man was wearing a white mask and a grey hoodie with black jeans. The man stood up and walked towards Finn.

"I'm here to help you defeat the Lich." The figure spoke with an unnaturally deep voice.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Maybe you shouldn't, but I want the Lich dead just as much as you do."

"Good enough for me." Finn said nonchalantly as he walked towards the person

"Finn, you can't just leave!" Princess Bubblegum told him

"Yeah, you just woke up!" Marceline added

"Don't worry, ladies. I'll make sure Finn here is taken care of. Y'all don't need to worry." The masked figure said

"Wait!" Princess Bubblegum cried

As soon as she took a step forward Finn and the masked figure vanished.

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><p><strong>So I'm back! Yeah, I took a small break from writing so I could rest, but now I'm back. Also some stories are going to be put on halt for awhile. The stories being put on hiatus are all of my stories except for Crush. The reason being is that I need to finish off my stories so I can have less stress and work. This doesn't mean I've abandoned my stories, oh God no. This just means that I won't be posting up any new chapters for as long as the hiatus goes on.<strong>

**I'm sorry if this brings a frown to your face, but things must be done.**

**-Micheal The Raconteur**


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